Are There Any Moderates Left In Iraq?

Iraq: Moderates Are Hard To Find As 'Bad Old Days' Return In Baghdad -- Michael Holmes, CNN

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Even in the darkest, deadliest days of Iraq's war, you'd find people still hopeful it would all work out. That the killings would stop, the bad guys would be routed and a stability of some sort would return. That the Americans would leave with their Humvees and their private security companies and the country would -- perhaps -- get on with the freedom the U.S. promised upon Saddam Hussein's removal.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki promised as much, and pledged an inclusive system for all. Power-sharing politics and making all Iraqis -- Sunni, Shia, Christian -- feel they shared national values. Now, there a plenty of Iraqis who believe he had his fingers crossed when he said such things.

Just over two years ago, I watched as the last of 110 or so U.S. military vehicles crossed the border from Iraq and into Kuwait -- the same border crossing I'd gone through in at the start of the war in 2003 with a U.S. Marine convoy headed to the Iraqi capital.

I've had nearly a dozen trips in between and now here I am, back in Baghdad. The city feels much the same as it did during some of those other trips -- and that's not a good thing. Actually, it feels worse.

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My Comment: From my vantage point there are no political figures in Iraq who are interested in compromise and power sharing .... what we have in Iraq is a return to sectarianism and tribalism with extremists on all sides exploiting the situation to their own advantage. But on the plus side .... the oil is still being pumped and monies are still coming to the central government and it is this money that will probably save the day for those who still believe that there is a chance for peace and stability in Iraq.