John Burns: “the Maliki government -- and in a sense, who can blame them -- has been preparing for some time for an eventual American…”

I think the pressure that has been brought to bear on Mr. Maliki has been very considerable. And I think he was bound to make some movement in this direction.

The problem is Iraqi history, Anderson. You have a Shiite community that won power at the polls under American protection, that had waited a thousand years for this opportunity.

He is utterly resistant to any idea there could be any separation of those two entities, he is Libya.

The Americans see in this an opportunity to try and draw those Baathist insurgent groups into the political process.