In short, Maliki and Petraeus apparently don’t trust each other or interface well. Petraeus won’t allow Maliki too much control over Iraqi armed forces and Carter (Iraq War vet, lawyer, pundit) agrees that Maliki govt is “rotten” and shouldn’t be trusted with the means to promote further sectarian violence - given past experience.

Seems logical someone, somewhere in the Bush administration would balk at providing sophisticated arms to forces we can’t trust. But so much for the “we’ll stand down when they stand up” nonsense - at least during the Bush presidency.