Bush needs to put the hammer down on the infighting in his administration over the rebuilding of Iraq. The war between the military and the Department of State is getting out of hand. Newt Gingrich has come out against State on this. Other conservatives favor the State approach.

Whatever, an approach has to be selected and pushed forward on a single front.

This article shows the opportunity we have, and how close we are to blowing it.

A local mullah is first approached and offered money by an American "contact" in exchange for supporting Ahmad Chalabi, a former exile leader now back in Baghdad. Later, another American
"contact" calls on the same mullah and offers him money not to support Chalabi.



Some American "contacts" have forged a dialogue with the so-called Badr Brigade, a militant armed group backed by Iran. The group's leader, Abdelaziz Hakim, returned to Karbala with a bodyguard of 200 men last week and has had several meetings with American " contacts". He has promised to change the name of his group's political wing, The High Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), to replace the word "revolution" with "democracy" to please the Americans.

At the same time another group of American "contacts" are warning Iraqi interlocutors not to go near Hakim and his group.