Iraq's parliament will meet on Monday to elect a speaker, the chamber said on Wednesday, a move that could break an eight-month political deadlock and lead to Nuri al-Maliki's reappointment as prime minister. ...
Shi'ite and Kurdish politicians have said for days that Maliki's return as prime minister was all but assured but that he needed a Sunni component if the new government is going to try and heal sectarian wounds.
They need to get this done right and actually govern. If rule of law prevails and this leads to new elections as scheduled, this will be a major step forward in establishing actual, working democracy in Iraq.
And opening negotiations with the United States about the state of our security relations after 2011 can't begin too soon as far as I'm concerned.
