send lawyers, guns, and money

Actually, says Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, we can keep the lawyers, he mostly just wants the guns and money.

ROME: Iraq's prime minister said security forces would have better control over their country if the United States had equipped them with more — and better — weapons, speaking during an interview in which he was deeply critical of Washington, an Italian daily reported Thursday.

. . . .

"The situation would be much better if the United States had immediately sent our security forces more adequate weapons and equipment. If they had committed themselves more and with greater speed we would have had a lot fewer deaths among Iraqi civilians and American soldiers," al-Maliki was quoted as saying by Corriere.

This call by the Shiite PM for more guns came on the same day that his government rolled out a new $41 Billion budget—a 21% increase over last year—that cuts the office responsible rooting out corruption and graft by 13%.

As for the lawyers, well. . .

Mr. Maliki also defended the much-criticised execution of Saddam Hussein, at which Shia guards taunted the former leader and videotaped his hanging. Earlier this week, Mr. Bush said the hanging looked like a "revenge killing" and that the Iraqi government "has still got some maturation to do".

But Mr. Maliki said Saddam and his co-defendants were given a fair trial, and that it was his government's constitutional prerogative to carry out the death penalty.