Nouri al-Maliki and the deepening political crisis in Iraq

On the battlefield, the U.S. objective is to stop the Islamic State's advances in the Kurdish region and to save besieged refugees near the city of Irbil.

In Iraq's political arena, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is clinging to power, even after the nomination of a new man for the job. Iraq’s new president, Kurdish leader Fouad Massoum, nominated Haider al-Abadi, a politician from Maliki’s Shia Dawa party as the country’s next prime minister.

The move comes a day after Maliki announced in a nationally televised address that he would take Massoum to court for not allowing him to be a prime minister nominee.

"Today I will file a legal complaint to the federal court against the president of the republic for committing a clear constitutional violation for the sake of political goals and preferring narrow interests over the interests of the Iraqi people," Maliki said.

After his speech, police and soldiers were deployed to Baghdad’s streets, closing roads popular for protests — a sign, some speculated, as the beginnings of a coup. A military spokesman later denounced those rumors. 

Maliki's Shia bloc won elections in April, but since then, support for his leadership has waned. He has not been able to build enough of a coalition to form a government.

The U.S. has let its support ebb too.

As the political crisis engulfs Baghdad, the security crisis continues in northern Iraq. Over the weekend, U.S. airstrikes pounded areas recently taken over by the Islamic State. The U.S. military air-dropped humanitarian aid, including food and water.  

Thousands of Yazidis — who had been told by the Islamic State that they had to either convert to Islam or be killed — were saved by helicopter on Sunday after taking refuge on Sinjar Mountain.

The Yazidis are finding safety in Kurdish regions, since Kurdish fighters have been at the forefront of battling the Islamic State. 

"I escaped from the mountain ... We had only one bottle of water," said Nazar Rashor, a displaced Yazidi. "There were thousands of us who fled."

So as the fighting continues in the north, Abadi has one month to form a government. Even if he succeeds, the political crisis will remain far from resolved.

What can U.S. airstrikes accomplish?

Why did the U.S. invest so much in Maliki after it seemed reasonably clear early on that it wasn’t working domestically or regionally?

Can a new prime minister save Iraq?

We consulted a panel of experts for the Inside Story.