Friday, January 20, 2006

Iraqi Election Results In

Iraq the Model has the complete totals today, plus a preceding story providing some background. The MSM has been remarkably uninterested in this important ongoing story, preferring instead to focus on the spikes in violence. As you read Iraq the Model over the weeks and months, you begin to see that at least a certain portion of this murderous violence is apparently the way some Iraqis choose to negotiate. Appalling, but that is the way in that part of the world, at least for some, and it is this equation that GW Bush has ambitiously decided to change—realizing that changing habits like this could take decades.

ITM's Omar, a secular Sunni and a reliable source, does not endorse this violence, and has provided a remarkably evenhanded narrative from his troubled country over the past two years. ITM is well worth reading if you'd like to gather a little bit of actual news from someone who is there and who cares very deeply about the outcome of these activities.

Make no mistake—what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq is causing major ripples in this part of the world, most obviously in Lebanon, Libya, and even Egypt. Even stubborn Syria is being affected.

Now if we could only see something positive out of Teheran. Wonker is an incurable optimist, but optimism doesn't have much traction in Iran's current mullahcracy. But that's a blog entry for another time.

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