Steve Soto at The Left Coaster speculates on the the primary reason for Cheney's "surprise visit" to Baghdad: I suspect that another, unofficial reason for Shooter’s trip is to demand that al-Maliki get the current draft of the Oil Law passed, before the whole government dissolves into chaos and al-Maliki is replaced with someone who is more nationalist, less sectarian, and who would pursue greater reconciliation by rewriting the Oil Law and demanding the Americans leave much sooner. Defense Secretary Gates said as much last month, when he specifically mentioned passage of the Oil Law as something that would speed reconciliation, an odd statement from someone who supposedly is concerned primarily about military matters rather than what is good for the oil lobby and GOP elites.
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