Rice Puts Reputation on Line Over Iraq

Months of political haggling in Iraq that sapped the American public's support for the war may be nearing an end, offering hope amid rising sectarian carnage.

It also leaves Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a more visible role as the Bush administration tries to steady a country at the brink of civil war.

Members of Iraq's parliament took several steps Saturday to break the deadlock that had slowed the formation of a new government since elections in December. They elected President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, to a second term and named Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab, parliament speaker. Al-Mashhadani's two deputies were to be Khalid al-Attiyah, a Shiite, and Aref Tayfour, a Kurd.

Shiite politician Jawad al-Maliki was named prime minister-designate by Talabani. Al-Maliki replaces Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, whose attempt to stay for another term had been opposed by Sunnis and Kurds and led to a stalemate that seemed to fuel sectarian violence and drain political momentum from the process.

"It looks like there's movement and that's good news," Rice said Friday as word of a compromise spread.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/04/22/national/w075229D09.DTL

do witches have reputations?

pre-meditated murder!

just yet. Remember last year? She was supposedly the hero when she got the Palestinians and the Israelis to put down their arms. Newspapers around the world cheered her as a "hero".

That lasted about 1 week.

So now, she's going to be SuperCondi again, taking the credit for endless meddling in the colony's affairs. Telling them who should be the leader, and get rid of Al Jaafari, and so on.

In a sense, it's funny that she's walking out on thin ice like this, in such chaos.

...when she lied to help the damn thing get started. That's exactly why her reputation is shot to hell now, and that's as irreversable as the invasion itself.