The Mahablog: Progress in Iraq

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the powerful ultra-conservative Guardian Council, told worshippers in Tehran’s Friday prayers, “Fortunately, after years of effort and expectations in Iraq, an Islamic state has come to power and the constitution has been established on the basis of Islamic precepts”.

“We must congratulate the Iraqi people and authorities for this victory”, he said. [Iran Focus News]

There's good news for the White House, too. Sunnis in Iraq, who had been sitting out the "nation building" process, are registering to vote so they can block ratification of the constitution. Democracy is on the march!

Our vacationing President is optimistic.

So what does the president have to say for himself? It's "hard work," but "we're making good progress." To be fair, Bush acknowledged, albeit in a minimizing way, that there "have been disagreements amongst the Iraqis about this particular constitution." He acknowledged that the violence in Iraq is likely to get worse before it gets better. And he did manage to get through an eight-minute speech on Iraq without mentioning 9/11 even once. But the president didn't acknowledge that the draft constitution -- even if it passes -- will create something less than the Western-style democracy he had envisioned for Iraq, nor did he give any hint that the breakdown in the constitutional process might be a cause to reassess what is possible in Iraq and how many U.S. troops should die in pursuit of it.