Doubts arise over Iraq's ability to meet US benchmarks
Hope of political compromise is seen receding
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's political leaders have failed to reach agreement on nearly every law that the United States has demanded as a benchmark, despite heavy pressure from Congress, the White House, and top military commanders. With only three months until reports on progress are due in Washington, the deadlock has reached a point where many Iraqi and US officials now question whether any substantive laws will pass before the end of the year.
Kurds have blocked a vote in Iraq's Parliament on a new oil law. Shi'ite clerics have stymied a US-backed plan for reintegrating former Ba'athists into the government. Sunni Arabs are demanding that a constitutional review include more power for the next president.
And even if one or two of the proposals are approved, doubts are spreading about whether the benchmarks can ever halt the violence.
For the handful of party leaders with the power to make deals, the promise of compromise now carries less allure than the possibility for domination. Long-suppressed Shi'ites and Kurds now see total victory within their grasp. Previous US benchmarks like elections have failed to bring peace, and after four years of unfulfilled promises, bloodshed, and chaos, wary glances have turned into cold unblinking stares.
The same forces of entropy have severed links between the party leaders and their constituencies. In Shi'ite areas of the south, Sunni Arab areas of the west, and Kurdish areas of the north, Iraq's central government has become increasingly irrelevant as competing groups maneuver at the local level for control of public money and jobs. In many cases, Iran and other foreign powers provide more support than Baghdad does.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told a US military commander Monday, "There are two mentalities in this region: conspiracy and mistrust."
Iraq's political limitations raise difficult questions for the United States. President Bush's stated mission for the increase in troops this year was to create an atmosphere of security that would lead to political reconciliation. But it is uncertain what will happen if broad-based compromises fail to emerge or have little impact. Most Western political officials in Iraq and Washington refuse to discuss a "Plan B" publicly.
But Iraqi leaders and those who work with them admit that their days are often filled with angst and frustration.
Some have turned their attention toward risky local alliances with militants who say they will now fight Al Qaeda. Even among the most hopeful, expectations have diminished. 