Maliki's promise, if truly the result of this wider unrest, is a good thing by demonstrating that leaders leave office and turn it over to whoever the people vote for:
Iraqi state TV is reporting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki won't run for a third time when his current term is up in 2014.
Of course, it might have just been the secret condition for cobbling together the current coalition, but it makes it more real by being said publicly.