Dr Burhan Al-Chalabi, former Chairman of the British Iraqi Foundation, told MEE:
The current events in Iraq have clearly demonstrated that Nouri al-Maliki can no longer be the US trusted man in Iraq, who can deliver a safe, secure and unlimited supply of Iraqi oil within the remit of his appointment in the US War for Oil Campaign.
The US has clear choices: either to repeat the mistakes of the Bush administration and impose on Iraq another puppet regime, subservient not only to Washington but also to Tehran and in the process cause more death and destruction in Iraq, or to learn from past mistakes and support the restoration of an independent, secular and sovereign Iraq that will be good for the Iraqi people, as well as for the West who will do business with Iraq.
This can only be achieved by abolishing the sectarian constitution imposed by Viceroy Paul Brimmer on Iraq during the US occupation and beginning a genuine process of democracy, not the sham that has been practised by Nouri al-Maliki to date.
President Obama's administration should not follow in the footsteps of its predecessor the Bush administration by undergoing another military intervention Iraq, regardless of how small-scale it is intended to be. Instead, the US should advise their man in Iraq to step down and allow Iraq to build itself as an independent peaceful state.