[Marine_Uncle]

It sure is going to be interesting to see just how many Iraqi at this point are going to see that their hope is in sharing power for the good of all. Regardless of what list yields the next PM and President, one thing is for sure, or at seems apparent to me. There are going to be a number of leaders from all the parties saying they must work together. They are not anywhere as stupid as a lot of folks purtend them to be. They know the stakes are critically high. The rather poor performance of the majority role this past year has made many of them weary of just voting for a majority Shia leader. I am not convinced this early in the vote count that Allawi is still out of the race.
And people like him that will be around regardless of the outcome are going to be influencial in perhaps keeping things at an even strain. That is at least my hope. Time will tell us soon enough. Give it three weeks.

[wildcatf4f3]

its win/win either way--a new demo ally or the whole mid east goes up in flames. either way is fine by me. PS i wouldn't count on a rational outcome with all the radical islamics, both overt and covert. Iran would love to defeat Bush by proxy just as they taunt israel via islamic jihad. If the screw they pooch, we let them bleed each other and come in when they're weak.

[InvisibleChurch]

i think even a lot of islamofascists are going to get used to peace and not seeing things get blown up all the time ... hate takes a lot of energy and once you turn that tap off, it is hard to get excited at the prospect of blowing yourself up if you see that it won't do any good