The US ambassador to Iraq voiced confidence Tuesday that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would abide by the law despite his mounting criticism of what he alleges is election fraud.
Our confidence and 95,000 troops still in the country will do wonders, I'd say, to help this rule of law thing along. It takes time and experience to get used to losing peacefully.
I'm a bit worried that Allawi's party could have six winners disqualified and drop to second place. I hope this simply means that , if the challenges are upheld, Allaqi's party has to replace them and not that Maliki's party gets to take the lead as a result.
For hotly contested elections, even rule of law can leave hard feelings. Just ask some Americans who still believe Bush stole the elections of 2000 and 2004.
