On Sept. 1, 2010,
Vice President Biden was in Baghdad for the change-of-command ceremony
that would see the departure of Gen. Ray Odierno and the arrival of Gen.
Lloyd Austin as commander of U.S. forces. That night, at a dinner at
the ambassador’s residence that included Biden, his staff, the generals
and senior embassy officials, I made a brief but impassioned argument
against Maliki and for the need to respect the constitutional process.
But the vice president said Maliki was the only option. Indeed, the
following month he would tell
top U.S. officials, “I’ll bet you my vice presidency Maliki will extend
the SOFA,” referring to the status-of-forces agreement that would allow
U.S. troops to remain in Iraq past 2011.
-- Ali Khedery, "Why we stuck with Maliki -- and lost Iraq" (Washington Post).