Reconciling or closing ranks

"Quickly, on the reported IAF return to Maliki's government: for the last few months, every time stories about this happening circulated I tagged them with the same comment: I expect this to happen, because the Islamic Party and what's left of the IAF desperately wants to have some government power and patronage to help it with the upcoming provincial elections, and are happy to use the moves against the Sadrists as political cover for doing what they desperately longed to do. As always, I'll only believe it when it actually happens, but if it does finally go down, I see it more as the Green Zone parties closing ranks ahead of the provincial elections and the Islamic Party maneuvering to shore up its desperately weak position than as a sign of 'national reconciliation.' The story in al-Khaleej today about an alleged 'secret deal' between Maliki and Hashemi to break the Awakenings and ban their political participation ahead of the elections would fit into this narrative, if true. That Maliki and the IAF were actually to finally complete a deal so manifestly in all of their party self-interest is indeed a sign of progress of sorts: not national reconciliation in any meaningful sense, but a shift from total dysfunction to minimal political competence at the center. More later, if I can.

UPDATE: the Washington Post picks up the story of the conflict between the Awakenings and the Islamic Party this morning. After yesterday's two posts, I'm hearing independently from a variety of sources that the Islamic Party has indeed been making its return to Maliki's government conditional upon a crackdown on the Awakenings political aspirations ahead of elections. I don't suspect that Maliki or his people have a problem with that, though I imagine the Americans might since they consider getting the Awakenings into provincial office the main purpose of provincial elections in the first place. Developing... "
Abu Aardvark

Oh great, a return to civil war...just in time for our election. Maybe Obama will have someone to surrender too after all. Canada may be off the hook.