Iraq's Political Feuds Impacting Any Future U.S. Agreement To Have Some American Troops Stay Next Year

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, left, and his chief rival, Ayad Allawi, right, in Parliament last November. Their rift has grown worse since then. Reuters

Bitter Feud Between Top Iraqi Leaders Stalls Government -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — Fifteen months after an election that was supposed to lay the groundwork for Iraq’s future, the government remains virtually paralyzed by a clash between the country’s two most powerful politicians, who refuse to speak to each other.

The paralysis is contributing to a rise in violence, and it is severely complicating negotiations on the most difficult and divisive question hanging over the country: Whether to ask the United States to keep a contingency force here after the scheduled withdrawal of American troops at the end of the year. The longer the deadlock persists, the harder it becomes for the American military to reverse or slow the withdrawal of the roughly 48,000 troops, the pace of which will pick up over the next few months.

Read more ....

My Comment: Elections have consequences, and you will always end up with the government that you deserve. For the Iraqis .... they are certainly learning that lesson now. As for U.S. concerns, the withdrawal is actually moving at a snail's pace, waiting for the Iraqi government to get it's act together .... but if it does not by the end of the summer, I expect everything to accelerate and thereby putting more pressure on Baghdad to reach some sort of compromise.