So much for democracy in Iraq

Sorry, ma'am...we didn't really mean it

Remember when supporters of George W. Bush's misadventure in Iraq told us that the war was worth whatever it cost us because those blue fingers

meant that democracy had come to Iraq? Even yesterday, in his weekly radio address, Bush said:

...In that speech, I will focus on the Middle East and why the rise of a free and democratic Iraq is critical to the future of this vital region and to our Nation's security.

[snip]

As security improves, more Iraqis are stepping forward to defend their democracy.

Maybe that's why there's still so much violence -- because the Iraqis know that while George Bush is talking democracy, his administration is already working behind the scenes with groups seeking to overthrow the supposedly democratically-elected Nouri al-Maliki and replace him with the American puppet Ayad Illawi:

Former interim Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi, who is trying to put together a new coalition to replace the current Baghdad government headed by Nouri al-Maliki, said yesterday that a powerful Washington lobbying firm is working on his behalf, funded by an Iraqi whom he cannot identify.

Allawi confirmed on CNN's "Late Edition" yesterday that Barbour Griffith & Rogers had been hired "to help us advocate our views, the views of the nationalistic Iraqis, the nonsectarian Iraqis."

Allawi said reports that Barbour Griffith is to receive $300,000 over six months are accurate, "but that these figures are really much less than the figures that are being paid by others, our adversaries."

Asked the source of the funds, Allawi said, "I cannot unfortunately divulge his name," adding: "He is a supporter of our program."

Glenn Greenwald wrote Friday and yesterday about the people behind the Barbour, Griffiths and Rogers effort:

Yes, indeed -- Illawi has hired a lobbying firm staffed by former Bush Administration officials to coordinate efforts designed to topple the existing leader of Iraq and install him instead. A private American lobbying firm is working behind the scenes to overthrow the government of another country.

there is clearly a coordinated effort by much of official Washington to essentially stage a coup in Iraq by trying to oust Maliki. The first sign was the coordinated emergence of news reports of significant tensions between Maliki and Official Washington's savior, Gen. Petraeus. Soon thereafter, President Bush, in a news conference, issued swaggering, tough guy threats to Maliki due to Maliki's increasingly friendly posture with Iran.

That signaled the start of official Washington's imperial campaign to replace the Iraqi leader. Awad Allawi found his way onto Fred Hiatt's Editorial Page to proclaim the problems in Iraq to be Maliki's fault. Carl Levin then meets with Allawi during his very probing two-day trip to Iraq, returns to Washington, and dutifully demands that Maliki be replaced. The next day, Hillary Clinton follows suit. Seemingly overnight, conventional bipartisan wisdom in the Beltway empire is that it is time to oust the Iraqi Prime Minister and replace him with someone more to our liking (whether that means less friendly to the Iranians or less hostile to our new friends the Sunni insurgents or simply more hospitable to our dictates).

If the unholy alliance between the Bush Administration and the media didn't bother you before, throw in that now the American media are doing the bidding of a lobbying company working to overthrow a government, and you have one hell of a sorry -- and frightening -- mess.

And in case anyone thinks that electing Hillary Clinton is going to change anything, she's in on this too:

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the Iraqi Parliament should replace embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with a "less divisive and more unifying figure" to reconcile political and religious factions.

Remember at Yearly Kos when Clinton said she'd accept lobbyist money because they represent "real Americans too":

I guess Ayad Allawi is one of those "real Americans."

Think about the pickle we're in: Over 3700 American kids dead in this supposedly now-democratic Iraq. We've got a lobbying company full of Bush cronies engaging in covert -- privatized, if you will -- foreign policy, funded by someone that they will not identify, with the express purpose of overthrowing the democratically-elected leader of that country. And the Democratic front-runner who is supposed to change things in Washington is in on it.