New Iraqi Government
 

I must say, the lineup does look fairly good, though I worry about the prez's lack of political experience, they seem to have a good agenda, the question now is whether anything will come of it. It'll be a snowball thing either way, if they can start to make a positive impact on the ground, support and tollerence of terrorist elements will wane, if they prove ineffectual and/or appear to be US puppets the situation will deteriorate towards failed state.

If it does work it will be an incredible acheivement but I'm not holding my breath. There are many forces at work now and I fear large parts of the US govt have the gun aimed squarely at their feet.

The president is just a figurehead anyway...the PM apparently has the real power.

(I don't get that...why the hell have a president AND a prime minister? Israel and France have the same thing.)

The ultimate test of the new Iraqi government: Ask the US to pull its troops out of the country before the elections in January 2005. I doubt that will happen, but you never know.

They are talking about putting the timetable and/or conditions for American troop withdrawl in a UN resolution. Of course, we are building what, 14 bases in Iraq and we know how seriously Bush takes UN resolutions.