I'm gonna wait a couple of weeks before I try to sort out the Iraqi provincial elections. When I was in Baghdad in November, an American official preparing for this period said that the key wouldn't be the run-up to the elections or the vote itself, but the month or two afterward, when winners and losers became clear. The two key questions, he said, were whether those who lost power would give it up and those who gained power would be able to execute it well.

Why wait? Because, unlike my former colleagues in the newspaper racket, I can.

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