What happened
Iraq’s two leading politicians began a lengthy—and potentially explosive—power struggle this week, in the wake of a tight, tense election that gave former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi a slight plurality over incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Allawi’s candidate slate, comprised of nonsectarian Shiites and Sunnis, won 91 seats in the parliament, finishing ahead of al-Maliki’s Shiite slate, which won 89 seats. Since neither slate commands a majority in the 325-seat legislature, each side sought to woo other parties in an attempt to form a coalition government. But tensions climbed as al-Maliki obtained a court ruling affording him first shot at forming a government, and a commission run by two Shiites moved to invalidate six winning candidates, alleging they had ties to Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath Party. If that challenge succeeds, Allawi’s coalition would likely lose seats, allowing al-Maliki to retain power. “What do you expect?” said Hajim al-Hassani, a spokesman for al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition. “Everyone is going to accuse the others.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What the editorials said
Despite the continuing political conflict, said The Washington Post, Iraq just “held a competitive election that puts most of its neighbors to shame.” The two top vote-getters “rejected ethnic and sectarian politics” and adopted “a more national, multi-sectarian vision.” Yes, “there’s plenty to worry about,” but it would be naïve to expect that Iraq’s transition to democracy would be easy.
Some democracy, said the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. No one will know who won this election for weeks or months, and al-Maliki not only has demanded a recount, he’s received a friendly ruling from Iraq’s supreme court allowing him first claim to form a new government. To get enough seats, said The Economist, al-Maliki may have to bargain with the extremist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a leading figure in the Iraqi National Alliance, “an umbrella group of Shiite religious parties.” If al-Sadr becomes the “kingmaker,” and al-Maliki has to pay a price for his support, Sunnis will be furious. Iraq’s future as a unified, nonsectarian state remains very much in doubt.
What the columnists said
We may not know who won, said David Ignatius in WashingtonPost.com, but we know who lost. This election was a “stunning defeat” for Iran, which spent “millions trying to stop an Allawi victory” and is the hidden force behind efforts to disqualify candidates on Allawi’s slate. Even al-Maliki bucked Iran, resisting its pressure to join forces with the Shiite parties of the Iraqi National Alliance. Nascent Iraqi nationalism may just provide a check on Iran’s ambitions.
If only that were true, said Michael Rubin in National Review Online. As U.S. influence in Iraq wanes, Iran becomes the regional powerbroker. Every Iraqi politician—“even, perhaps, Allawi”—must make an accommodation with Iran “in order to survive.” Even now, “Iran is knocking heads together” to push al-Maliki into a ruling alliance with the religious Shiite parties, said Robert Dreyfuss in TheNation.com. If al-Maliki retains power, he’ll owe his primary allegiance to Iran, not the U.S.
The longer the process of forming a government takes, the riskier it grows, said Michael Crowley in The New Republic. After the indecisive 2006 election, factions sought political leverage through violence, “fueling Iraq’s horrific civil war.” If that happens again, “how will Barack Obama react?” The U.S. is slated to reduce troop levels in Iraq from 90,000 to 50,000 by the end of August and remove all troops by the end of next year. With luck, Iraq will have gained some political stability by then. “But Iraq, unfortunately, is a very unlucky place.”
-
August 23 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Putin’s threat to fracture Ukrainefeature Fears that Russia was building a pretext for an invasion of eastern Ukraine grew, as pro-Kremlin protesters occupied government buildings in three cities.
-
Curbing NSA surveillance
feature The White House said it will propose a broad overhaul of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.
-
Downsizing the military
feature A new budget plan for the Pentagon would save hundreds of billions of dollars by taking the military off its post-9/11 war footing.
-
Putin ratchets up pressure on Ukraine
feature Russian President Vladimir Putin put 150,000 troops at the Ukraine border on high alert and cut off $15 billion in financial aid.
-
Ukraine on the brink of civil war
feature Ukraine’s capital was engulfed in flames and violence when hundreds of riot police launched an assault on an anti-government protest camp.
-
Ukraine at the breaking point
feature An alliance of opposition groups vowed protests would continue until President Viktor Yanukovych is removed from power.
-
Dim prospects for Syrian talks
feature A long-awaited Syrian peace conference in Montreux, Switzerland, quickly degenerated into a cross fire of bitter accusations.
-
The fight over jobless benefits
feature A bill to restore federal benefits for the long-term unemployed advanced when six Republican senators voted with Democrats.