Iraqi Leaders Reach Accord On Prisoners, Ex-Baathists
As you’ve been reading/hearing from me for a while, I’ve been happy to hear that the Surge has been producing military success, but very unhappy with the political progress made by the Iraqi government. And without a political settlement, what’s the point of having more of our soldiers risk their lives? So I was pleasantly surprised today to find this article in the Washington Post:
Iraq’s top five political leaders announced an agreement Sunday night to release thousands of prisoners being held without charge and to reform the law that has kept thousands of members of Saddam Hussein’s political party out of government jobs.
The agreement was publicized after several days of meetings between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite; President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd; Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni; Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite; and Massoud Barzani, president of the semiautonomous Kurdish region.
It’s not a full political solution (oil revenues is still a big issue that’s not resolved), but at least they (Shiites, Kurds, and Sunnis) are talking and working out some differences. Let’s hope they keep working together so we can get our soldiers home.
BTW, no mention of this Iraqi political success in the New York Times, the Philly Inquirer, the LA Times, CNN, or MSNBC – I guess this isn’t good bad enough news for them. Kudos to the Washington Post for reporting on it – even though they put it on page A9.
