Can we please leave now?

Iraq’s barely functioning coalition government lost the largest Sunni bloc today. The Accordance Front walked away from the coalition when the government failed to meet several (unrealistic) demands. The split should pretty much end the fiction that this is a “national unity” government.

To spice things further, Kurdish leaders are talking about annexing Kirkuk by force if it the government does not provide a constitutional referendum on the future of the city. Given that the Parliament can barely muster a quorum, I doubt this is goning to happen.

It looks to me like everyone has run out of patience with al-Malaki et al. It is like 120 degrees in Baghdad and people in the city get one hour of electricity per day. They are tired of the endless dithering by the politicians, of baking inside their homes, of the constant death. Surge or not, it looks like things in Iraq are going to get worse and we have 160,000 soldiers standing in the middle of this grudge match, trying to play referee.

God bless ‘em, because they are going to need it.