Another Grim Milestone For Democrats In Iraq- Election Law Passes Parliment

This got a little lost yesterday in all the bailout talk (and my trip to the dentist) but this is very good news.

You know that whole ‘there’s been no political reconciliation in Iraq’ talking point they’ve been using since the surge started? Deader than the hooker in Godfather II.

Iraq's parliament overwhelmingly approved a provincial elections law Wednesday, overcoming months of deadlock and giving a boost to U.S.-backed national reconciliation efforts.

Also Wednesday, gunmen opened fire on a group of Iraqi policemen and members of a so-called awakening council northeast of Baghdad, killing 22, the U.S. military said.

U.S. officials have complained privately that Iraqi politicians have failed to take advantage of the sharp drop in violence — down 80 percent since last year, according to the U.S. military — to forge lasting power-sharing agreements.

The legislation had been bogged down in a complex dispute between Arabs and Kurds over power sharing in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which Kurds seek to incorporate into their semiautonomous region.

Lawmakers acknowledged the delay in passing the measure would make it difficult for the electoral commission to organize the vote and pushed back the deadline for it to be held until Jan. 31, 2009.

In reading a bunch of stories on this it’s amazing how hard the MSM is working to spin this as a negative, bog it down with all sorts of caveats or just flat out ignoring it.

In fairness to our friends in the media, it must be tough to have fought so hard but still lose the war.

posted by DrewM. at 12:45 PM

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