DANG CURIOUS IMPERIALISM:

US (mostly) lets Iraq form its cabinet: Despite some visible pressuring this week, Washington has taken a light hand in steering the process - wisely, experts say. (Howard LaFranchi, 4/28/05, The Christian Science Monitor)

[T]he government of at least 32 ministers, which could finally be presented for the national assembly's approval Thursday after weeks of haggling among religious factions and political parties, is both a work of promise and of considerable foreboding, say Iraq experts and consultants who have been working with Iraqi leaders.

That the politically ascendant Shiites and Kurds made room for six Sunni ministers, despite their absence from January's elections and association with the former regime, demonstrates the kind of hard power-sharing necessary for national unity. The Sunnis' portfolio even includes the coveted defense minister slot. [...]

For the most part, analysts agree that it's an imperfect political process the US has been right to leave basically to the Iraqis, despite some last-minute phone calls and high-profile public pressure from Washington to get a government going.

The only thing the critics were more wrong about than the President's intentions in Iraq was the maturity of the Shi'a and Kurds.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 27, 2005 11:23 PM