The new Shiite-Kurdish coalition will retain a majority in parliament — 181 of the 275 seats — and apparently have a clear path to pass legislation demanded by the Bush administration, including a law on sharing Iraq's oil wealth among Iraqi groups and returning some Saddam Hussein-era officials purged under earlier White House policies.
The Sunni Arabs can yet get aboard, but time is running out. The Sunni Arabs can join while they can count on American support or the lack of political progress emboldens our Congress to pull the plug and the Sunni Arabs can pack their bags and join their brethren abroad.
One way or the other, the Iraqi government will solve their Sunni Arab problem.
UPDATE: Maliki is working hard to get Sunni Arabs to join his government:
Iraq's Shiite prime minister carried an appeal for unity to Saddam Hussein's hometown Friday and told Sunni tribal chieftains that all Iraqis must join to crush al-Qaida in Iraq and extremist Shiite militias "to save our coming generations."
The Iraqi Sunni Arabs can't lead. They are being offered a chance to follow. And if they don't take this chance, they'll be shoved out of the way.
Honestly, are the Sunni Arabs too stupid to understand they have a chance to join the government by rallying against the foreign jihadi invaders?
