The disastrous loss of a large swath of the north to Islamic militants is threatening to cost Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, his job as even longtime Shiite backers turn against him and seek an alternative. During a meeting of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish party leaders, one young up-and-coming Shiite politician angrily told al-Maliki that his “obsession with power” and botched policies were to blame for this week’s debacle. “Now, I must leave. I have a meeting to go to,” a seething Ammar al-Hakim, leader of a key Shiite party, declared before storming out of the session Wednesday night, according to a politician who attended and shared the exchange with The Associated Press in return for anonymity. During his eight years in office, al-Maliki has touted himself as the only leader capable of safeguarding the Shiite […]