Maliki’s Iraq

BAGHDAD - Thursday marks the one-month anniversary of Iraq’s first "National Sovereignty Day" and as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returns from a diplomatic tour of Washington and New York, the fate of his tumultuous country awaits him.

Maliki’s main goal in the U.S. was to alter the UN mandate that five percent of oil revenue be collected as Saddam Hussein-era reparations, mostly to Kuwait, while keeping the funds protected from Saddam-era lawsuit claims.