NATIONS AREN'T REBUILT IN A DAY:

Iraqis Elect a Sunni as Speaker of the Assembly (Alissa J. Rubin, April 4, 2005, LA Times)

Iraqi lawmakers broke a logjam that for weeks had blocked the formation of the new government, voting overwhelmingly Sunday to elect a Sunni Muslim as speaker of the National Assembly. A Shiite Muslim and an ethnic Kurd were elected as his deputies.

The step was only the first of three required to set up the government but appeared to signal that the intense behind-the-scenes wrangling since Jan. 30 elections finally had begun to yield fruit.

The next steps — the election of a council made up of a president and two vice presidents, and that group's selection of a prime minister, who must be approved by the assembly — probably will be completed by the weekend, the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. The prime minister will select a Cabinet a week or two after that, lawmakers said.

"Basically we passed an important hurdle today, we almost have an agreement on the presidency council. Now we're engaged in a real way," said Barham Salih, a Kurd and deputy prime minister in the current interim government. "Today we have proven that we are capable of making our country march forward, without looking into our narrow interests of the different entities."

When Ben Franklin proposed a prayer at the Constitutional Convention his motion was defeated not on separation grounds but because delegates feared they'd appear desparate, as if they required a miracle to reach an accord.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 4, 2005 9:51 AM