The New York Times offers an interesting survey today of Iraqi opinion with regard to American troop pullouts. Most of the Iraqis it quotes aren’t eager to see American troops pull out too soon. They realize the chaos that would ensue. So why are so many Iraqi politicians–most prominently the prime minister– calling for a withdrawal? Tareq Maher, an Iraqi who works for the Times, offers the most convincing explanation in this online essay. He writes:

As an Iraqi journalist, each day I meet dozens of officials, some government ministers, some members of parliament, some advisers to senior ministers.

All of them declare in public that they are against the Americans remaining in Iraq. They demand Iraqi liberation. They always raise the same slogan: “Independence for Iraq.” They are against the long-term security agreement, which sets the terms for the continuing presence of American soldiers in Iraq, that has been made public.

But in private sessions or meetings they are always telling me and other reporters that the Americans must stay, and that if they leave right now it would be a big mistake and misadventure.

The reasons for this political hypocrisy are like a disease. Most of the Iraqi politicians suffer from it. Their aim is to maintain their reputation in the public eye.

This way they ensure that they remain in power: using such slogans like a repeated note is the best way of winning more votes in the next election, which will allow them to remain in the political game.

That tallies with my understanding of what’s going on. Keep that in mind the next time that Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or any one of a thousand pundits claims that “the Iraqis” are demanding that we adopt Obama’s timetable for withdrawal. Yes, some Iraqis, including at times the prime minister, have called for a relatively expeditious pull-out. But, as Maher suggests, a lot of them don’t mean it.