Iraqi politics remain in uproar after the new parliament’s failure to form a government on Wednesday.<br /><br />With the Sunni enemy seemingly at the gates as manifested by the ISIL fighters Baghdad flails around searching for alliances, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appears to have few friends left.<br /><br />He has been on television with an offer to the ISIL militants.<br /><br />“First, they talked about an Islamic State in Iraq and Levant; today they talk about a Caliphate in the region. Iraq and its neighbours are not safe from their projects. We will not submit and undoubtedly they will suffer a severe defeat,” said al-Maliki on television.<br /><br />The offer to ISIL’s fighters is surrender, and if you have no blood on your hands, no action will be taken against you.<br /><br />In the meantime the Iraqis and Americans are trying to revive the Iraqi tribal alliances they fought alongside when defeating al-Qaeda in the last decade. <br /><br />Recruitment is also continuing apace, with queues of Shi’ite volunteers forming to guard their holy places and go off to fight.<br /><br />Workplaces are organising their own squads, with the biggest companies raising whole batallions of men.
