Contemplate this:
Iraq's prime minister pressed the U.N. envoy Sunday for action on his request for an international tribunal to try suspects in last month's suicide truck bombings at government targets.
The premier, Nouri al-Maliki, also briefed the special envoy on the intensifying dispute with neighboring Syria sparked by the attacks, state TV reported.
The news that Syria is sponsoring terror is hardly new, of course. And the idea that an Iraqi prime minister would try to get Syria to stop killing Iraqis isn't too shocking.
Although expecting the United Nations to do something constructive is rather farcical.
But that isn't the really amazing thing at all. This is:
Al-Maliki is also hoping to hold onto his job after January's national elections and had touted recent security improvements in his public appearances. He has faced criticism over the security lapses revealed by the attacks — one suspect said in a televised confession that the bombers got past checkpoints by paying bribes.
Can you imagine? After Saddam's long reign of terror an Iraqi leader is actually motivated by the need to appease his voters? That, my friends, is priceless progress.
Of course, democratizing Iraq was always part of the plan--and not a hastily assembled rationalization when we did not find WMD ready to fire in Iraq after the invasion.
