Thursday December 3, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

It looks like the elections in Iraq, scheduled for January 18, 2010, have been postponed.

Iraq is undergoing a serious election law crisis.
The United States is stunned.
The US did not expect a postponement, even though the Iraqi vice president who vetoed the new election law announced that he would be vetoing the election.

The election law dispute is all about who gets to vote.

Iraqi vice president Tariq al Hashemi is a Sunni and the Sunnis want to make certain that foreign or absentee ballots can be cast. There are a significant number of Sunni Iraqis living abroad and if they are given the vote Sunni representation will be clearly reflected.

The Presidential Council must unanimously approve the new law before it can be passed.

The Presidential Council consists of 2 vice presidents, one is Shiite, the other, Hashemi, is Sunni and the president of Iraq, Nuri el Maliki, who is a Kurd.

Iraq is at a stand still.

So is US policy which cannot move ahead until it is clear that the situation in Iraq is stable.

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