Make or Break Time

23 June 2006 One month after choosing a cabinet and pledging to transform Iraq into a country ruled by law under a national unity government, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki finds himself bogged down by the same problems that paralyzed an array of politicians before him. Observers, both in and outside Iraq, look on bewildered as the same sectarian divisions that delayed the government’s formation for six months after the…

Opposition Squabbles

20 December 2002 The US wanted the recent London gathering of Iraqi exiles to be a media event — and that’s exactly what it was. The haggling among the 350-plus opposition members at the four-day meeting, not to mention the outcome, showed the wisdom of Washington’s insistence that all fundamental issues related to a new political system in a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq be avoided. The US had urged the attendees,…