Thursday, March 25, 2010

Talking About Elections

Not me.  Marc Lynch has a very clear analysis of the Iraqi elections.  My quick summary--the elections did not suck.  Much better than Afghanistan and Iran in terms of real competition, many more folks crossing various lines (sectarian, especially) to vote for candidates and parties that claim to represent Iraq rather than Iran or the US, efforts to undermine the Sunnis via Chalabi's anti-Baathist shenanigans backfired, and more.

Of course, much wrangling ahead between the two leading parties--current PM vs ex PM.  But given where Iraq was 6 months ago, one year ago, three years ago, this is not a bad place to be.  Does not justify the invasion, but it might justify the surge, the awakening, Petraeus and COIN, Gates and even a bit of Bush making some decent choices after making so many tragic ones.  Obama may be able to run in 2012 with Iraq largely in the background with another difficult promise kept. 

Still, this could all go haywire.  Bears watching and following Lynch at lynch.foreignpolicy.com as he continues to provide clarity on these issues.

No comments: