Maliki's visit: Interesting and Confusing

Democrats in Congress are upset that Maliki is going to be allowed to speak before them simply because he agrees with a lot of the world that Israel is using "disproportionate" force. Does this mean that Democrats have no respect for a free and independantly elected government in Iraq? Maliki isn't al-Qaeda, or Hezbollah, or even Hamas. He's not suggesting that he will join the fight on the side of Hezbollah. He's just basically agreeing with Kofi Annan. Does Nancy Pelosi want an actual life sized puppet? Is that why she thinks the Bush policy in Iraq sucks, because he hasn't produced strong enough puppet strings? I am confused.

The prime minister's views and inflammatory statements by other Iraqi officials — including a parliamentary resolution branding the Israeli attacks "criminal aggression" — prompted 20 congressional Democrats to call for the cancellation of Maliki's invitation to address a joint session of Congress today.

Republican leaders refused, but also expressed concern about Maliki's statements.

The Democratic leadership in the House and Senate condemned the prime minister's comments.

"Maliki's criticism of Israel's right to defend itself is unacceptable," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). "Unless Mr. Maliki disavows his critical comments of Israel and condemns terrorism, it is inappropriate to honor him with a joint meeting of Congress."

Some Democrats were weighing a boycott of the speech, but Democratic leaders were expected to attend and were not encouraging absences