Maliki: This was a tempest in a teapot. All aboard my freedom train

Prime Minister Maliki made a speech Saturday at a ceremony honoring the Iraqi soccer team, and it includes good examples of the nationalist rhetoric that will no doubt be part of his election- and referendum-campaigning. He promised the government would protect the athletes and all Iraqi youth from terrorism, that all Iraqis are equal, and so on.

Then, having become airborne, here is where he sails into the issue of the Interior Ministry affair:

"The feelings of strong nationalism have returned, and it is owing to these feelings that there have been successes in security. Following [a period in which] everyone had to operate in secret, today they operate in complete freedom".

He added: "The political process is strong, and we are in need of the efforts of the people in order that they may have strong support. Certainly we need to reform the national and legal institutions, so that they may be equal to the aspirations of the people. We must fight weakness and nonchalance, and we must do away with the obstacles that have been left by the prior regime".

And he said: "Those who talk of coups in this country are delusional, because there is no coup in this country and there is no one who even contemplates such a thing". He added: "I praise with great praise those in the armed forces and the police and those who lead in the security victory. They are all guided by the principles of reason, and not by the narrow ideas. What the media are spreading are the imaginings of an ignorant minority that are already dead and gone.

What you hear about the goings-on in certain of the national and security institutions--these are the result of differences and practices that are not in keeping with their tasks or with the law. These are subject to an investigation in accordance with the juridical principles that are part of our administration and our institutions. So there is no concern about coups as long as this freedom persists, and as long as people are free to express their opinions at the ballot box...