Sydney Morning Herald, December 22
Another article in the Sydney Morning Herald today questions the chances of stable government emerging from the Iraqi election. A couple of quotes –
Acknowledging the difficulty of forming a national government for voters from within the ghettos and fiefdoms of their tortured demographics, the US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, sounded surprised and despairing. “It looks as if people have preferred to vote for their ethnic or sectarian identities,” he said. “But for Iraq to succeed there has to be cross-ethnic and cross-sectarian co-operation.”
…Across Baghdad, Sunni leaders, who had boycotted the democratic process up until last Thursday’s poll, were claiming that the vote was rigged. They couched their demand for a new election in terms that amounted to a threat to reverse back into the arms of the insurgency that has paralysed the country since mid-2003.
Washington’s best hope is that Tuesday’s anger and rhetoric are tactical, rather that heartfelt. But its hopes for a government of national unity dimmed as some commentators read the outcome as further proof of a country falling apart, rather than coming together.
More cause for concern I think.