Following the pattern established in Basra, Mosul and Sadr City, Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki has announced a major reconstruction package for the province of Maysan after offering amnesty to the Shia fighters there. Or rather — allocated money for further use. And therein lies the problem. With the corrupt and inefficient government ministries already struggling to spend their capital budgets, how are they going to handle three simultanious projects in these flashpoint areas?
Which brings me to another question: does Petraeus seriously think that Maliki and his army are ready for complex COIN operations that require not only kinetic capabilities but, even more importantly, political patience and sectarian neutrality? It’s one thing to flood a city with troops barely capable of firing a Dushka when your opponent has already melted away; it’s another to hold what you’ve just cleared, and to build would require verve and imagination this administration doesn’t have.
