John Burns: “I think to be fair to the Maliki government, if you look at the history of Iraq, it would be very unrealistic for them…”

He has said repeatedly that it is the duty of the people, something Hitler also said, in effect to die for him.

The Maliki government -- and in a sense, who can blame them -- has been preparing for some time for an eventual American military withdrawal and an all- out civil war.

I think it's symbolically essential and in fact, practically essential as well. And this rebellion has been about one thing, and that is getting rid of Moammar Gadhafi.

How soon will the resistance come? Because there will be resistance at some point, just as a consequence of the basic political arithmetic of Iraq, which is that he cannot afford an open rupture with Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army.