US nervous as Maliki reaches out to pro-Iranian groups

After several months of uncertainty, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has been nominated to a second four-year term. Though this sign of stability in the Iraqi government might otherwise be a relief for the United States, the State Department is unnerved by Maliki’s courtship of pro-Iranian Shiite groups to secure his nomination. Steven Lee Myers, Baghdad bureau chief for our partner, The New York Times, reports live from Baghdad.