Iraqis out perform Congress

Ralph Peters:

Iraqi lawmakers have achieved far more in the last two years than our own feckless Congress.

LAST week, Iraq passed another milestone on the difficult road to political maturity: Its parliament unanimously approved a new election law insuring broader participation than ever before.

In early winter, Iraqis will vote in regional elections in the country's 14 Arab-majority provinces (the Kurds are ahead of the cycle - as they are in most things). Only the tricky status of Kirkuk must still be resolved.

Despite legions of international nay-sayers, democracy worked. After posturing for their own party bases, Iraqi politicians compromised on critically important issues. The result is the most enlightened electoral blueprint between Israel and India.

The systemic clout of religious blocks and parties has been reduced. A quarter of the contested seats are reserved for women. Safeguards promise the most honest balloting ever held in an Arab-majority state.

The new electoral program brings the outsider Sunni Arabs back into the power fold, acknowledging their "flip" against al Qaeda and their renewed allegiance to the central government. The Shia majority will have to give up some power.

More remains to be done to ensure a voice for Iraq's smallest minorities, but, in a country where the political bad blood is real blood - generations of it - this law marks progress worthy of global applause.

And you probably haven't heard a word about any of this. The media's code of silence on good news from Iraq (in place until Nov. 4) is in full force. Bombings still merit a breathless mention - even as they become ever less frequent - but the legislative progress in Baghdad gets buried deep in the inside pages, if it's reported at all.

...

It does not fit the media story line on Iraq so it is not a big story. It is especially to be ignored because it does not push the media agenda of electing Obama over McCain even though McCain was right on Iraq and Obama was dead wrong.

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