Success in Iraq Election Law - but will the US ever stop intervening?

Described by President Obama as a “milestone” in the Iraqi pursuit of sovereignty, the Iraqi parliament has approved an election reform. The law calls for a general election to be held in January of next year, after which the US intends for a withdrawal of 120,000 troops but leaving 50,000 troops by next August. The success of such an election will have lasting effects on both the domestic and international perception on the US effort in Iraq.

Getting down to the nuts and bolts of the election’s voter registration lists, the Iraqi parliament failed to reach a consensus as to whether to use 2004, 2005, or 2009’s voter rolls. This choice will have a direct effect on the outcome of the election due to the displacement of tens of thousands of Kurds who were expelled during Saddam Hussein’s rein and returned during the US occupation. Therefore, Arabs and Turkmens are in strong favor of using lists from 2004 and 2005, whereas Kurds wish to reflect their current numbers on the 2009 list. Today, an agreement was negotiated by the United Nations and the US to use voter lists from 2009, reflecting continued inefficiency in the Iraqi parliament.

Members of the Parliament were reportedly displeased with US interference and the Americans urging for the elections to happen in a timely manner. The New York Times quoted a Sunni member of the parliament was quoted, “Unfortunately, the Americans are insisting on certain dates more than they are insisting on the objectivity of their decisions.” For now, the Parliament can still decide when to ultimately hold the elections – one has to wonder, whether President Obama and his administration will intervene then.

Gallup.com Politics News polled Obama’s approval rating as falling to 54% in the recent month from 68% in February this year. Between approving plans for increasing troops in Afghanistan and approving plans for continued US presence in in Iraq, the public has clear doubts about where the president is headed, perhaps not just in the Middle East. Particularly since if the public is opposed to the continued US troops and the usage of the government’s resources in Iraq, how does the public feel about the continued US interference in Iraq’s journey to democracy? Or perhaps are we “assisting” the Iraqis in what Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq a “historic victory of the will of the [Iraqi] people”?

The Iraq election reform will either reinforce perception of Obama’s tendency to compromise his campaign beliefs while in office or bolster the president’s current image as a foreign policy aficionado with the hope that the US can finally withdraw from Iraq to end the chapter on what the US public has come to consider a mistake.