Habitrails

We might as well give our Green Zone buddies a giant hamster ball they can run around in for all the authenticity of political coalition building.

Some Iraqi officials interpreted the new alliance as an attempt to manufacture a majority in parliament to help push through several pieces of stalled legislation. But with the Shiites and the Kurds already in close alignment, the announcement struck several observers as little real progress. The agreement also does not replace the current political blocs in parliament, but adds another layer of alliances to them.

"This is not the solution for Iraq's problems," said Hachim al-Hassani, a secular Sunni lawmaker, who said he planned to join the alliance despite his criticism of it. "The solution for Iraq's problems is for the real parties to get together and agree on an agenda to fix Iraq's problems."

What it is, is a desperate attempt to have enough of them in a block (even without the Sunnis) to pass some form of crappy, exploitive law, so their American Overlords can shout, "LOOK AT THE POLITICAL PROGRESS! -- when have we ever lied to you before?". And enough Republicans will join Joe Lieberman in shouting "HURRAY, now on to Iran!" for the Iraq situation to continue on and on and on for another Friedman -- when it will happen all over again.