Iraq said Tuesday that it will hold long-awaited provincial elections on Jan. 31, a step forward for U.S.-backed efforts to promote national reconciliation even though a key northern area will not participate in the vote.
This is good. But national reconciliation is over-rated as a goal. How's that reconciliation going here between left and right after two decades of swinging national elections? And we expect Iraqis to get over mass murder and terror just like that?
It is too much to expect Iraqi Sunni Arabs, Shias, and Kurds to sing kumbaya and love one another after the last several decades (not to mention the last several centuries).
All we can hope for realistically is that the Iraqis settle their differences peacefully with elections and parliamentary give and take. Just like we do.
