Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Iraq Is in a Race Against Time as Congress Grows Restless

BAGHDAD, Iraq
WHEN Iraq's leaders gather this week to begin the elaborate horse-trading required to fashion a coalition government, one non-Iraqi will be very much at the table: Zalmay Khalilzad, the unabashedly hands-on American ambassador.
The advice of Zal, as he's known around Baghdad, will not be subtle. The United States did not expend such volumes of blood and treasure to go coy at this critical juncture. "A Kurdish-Shia government will not solve the problem," Mr. Khalilzad said. "Iraq needs a government of national unity." ...continue