And this is not coming from the New York Times or the Washington Post. This story is coming from the Marine Corps Times:

A key aide says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s relations with U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus are so poor the Iraqi leader may ask Washington the withdraw the well-regarded U.S. military leader from duty here.

The Iraqi foreign minister calls the relationship “difficult.”

Petraeus says his ties with al-Maliki are “very good” but acknowledges expressing “the full range of emotions” on “a couple of occasions.”

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who meets together with al-Maliki and Petraeus at least weekly, concedes “sometimes there are sporty exchanges.”

That should really lead to credibility problems with Petraeus and will make one wonder even more how truthful his report will be in September.

There are also more troubles brewing in the Iraqi government. It looks like everything is on the verge of collapse now:

Iraq’s dwindling Shiite-led government and its largest Sunni bloc stepped up their war of words on Saturday, amid a crisis which some lawmakers warned could bring down the ruling coalition.

Sunni ministers are boycotting government business, and the deepening crisis has cast doubt on the US-backed regime’s ability to push through reforms designed to reunite the war-torn country.

Washington has demanded that series of law and constitutional amendments be passed to appease Sunni resentment and end faction fighting, as the programme was supposed to proceed alongside a surge of US troops into the country.

On Saturday, the main Sunni bloc in the coalition reacted angrily to a rebuke from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s spokesman, who had accused its ministers of disrupting legislation and had implied they were corrupt.

So while all this happens our soldiers are still stuck there dying. Since the entire Iraqi parliament is getting ready to take a month off, it looks like there will be no political benchmarks met by the September report. I still say our Congress should show responsibility and call of their August recess and keep debate going on Iraq. That or they need to put on some gear and go relieve some of our troops.