** Iraq: Welcome to the Theocracy

If you are not paying attention to the interim Iraqi election results, you should be. The good news from my perspective is that Allawi's ticket seems to be failing. According to this NYTimes article, his ticket is running at about 13% of the vote so far. The main Kurdish party is at 25%, and Sistani's Shia ticket has about 50% of the vote.

These numbers are fluid. But, regardless, it appears that Iraq is heading towards religiously dominated government, despite Cheney's assertions otherwise. I highly recommend this Juan Cole post on the subject.

Bottom line: I'm not sure how the Bushies are going to spin this when it's over, but to me it looks like the election results are not favorable to American interests. And I haven't even mentioned the complete lack of Sunni participation in the process. Last, but not least, with the Kurdish parties doing so well, watch out for increasing signs of Turkish displeasure at the situation.
- posted by David @ 9:44 AM