IRAQI RECONCILIATION? NOT SO MUCH, REALLY

The Kurds want to maintain control of the oil-rich areas they now control, so they don't like efforts to reduce their influence. Somebody please tell "We've succeeded" McCain.

Iraqi army prepares assault in Diyala as election law vetoed
By Nicholas Spangler | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008

...Iraqi president Jalal Talabani vetoed a long-awaited elections bill, casting into doubt provincial elections widely viewed as critical for national reconciliation.

Those elections, which had been scheduled for October, could return control of some of the northern provinces to Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the last round, held in 2005.

But the October date was thrown into doubt after Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the Iraqi parliament on Tuesday. At issue was power sharing in Kurdish-dominated Kirkuk, which sits on some of the largest oilfields in the country. The bill passed in their absence would reduce Kurdish representation on the provincial council and transfer security authority for the region from the Kurdish troops already there to Iraqi Army troops from outside the region.

Kurdish leaders condemned the bill as unconstitutional and claimed voting irregularities. On Wednesday, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, vetoed it, saying the bill was "against the principle of national accord," according to a statement released by his office.