Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/national-intelligence-estimate-released-sectarian-violence-continues Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The National Intelligence Estimate was released this week, revealing little progress in Iraq. NewsHour political analysts Mark Shields and Rich Lowry discuss the NIE findings and criticisms of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Mark, picking up on the political side of the Iraq situation, this has been a bad week, or at least an up-and-down week for Prime Minister Maliki, at least what's been said. How do you read the final — what is the U.S. position now on Maliki, as you understand it? MARK SHIELDS: "You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie." I mean, that seemed to be the president's shorthand this week. It was up to them to make a choice. He almost seemed to be inviting on Tuesday the Republicans — or the insurgents, the dissidents in Iraq to replace Mr. Maliki. And then, "He's a great guy, a neat guy, a good guy"… JIM LEHRER: What do you think happened? MARK SHIELDS: I think that the president was probably speaking candidly and directly without talking points when he said it at the outset, and I think there was a backlash within the establishment and within the party. JIM LEHRER: What do you think is going on? RICH LOWRY: I think what happened there is Bush — he was speaking off-the-cuff, and he was responding to the comments by Senator Levin, saying, "I think we may need to replace Maliki." And Bush was just saying, "If he's going to be replaced, the Iraqis have to do it."And the administration, they have a keen appreciation of the limits of al-Maliki. You know, he was in exile for years. He's not used to democratic politics. He's not a charismatic or particularly strong leader. But the question is, who do you replace him with? And that's the question no one has an answer to necessarily. But I do think these Iraqi politicians, they are feeling pressure from below, and that's a very key thing. And if they eventuallyΓǪ JIM LEHRER: Below from fellow Iraqis, not from the United States? RICH LOWRY: Yes, from Iraqi society. And, you know, I don't want to have rose-tinted glasses, because you don't know how this is going to play out, but it does often happen, when society is ridden by civil war and violence, that there's a point where the population just becomes fed up with it, and some sort of political leader or force rises up to express that sentiment. And I wouldn't rule that out happening here.