Iraq Elections Fall Apart Again

Iraq's effort to keep its parliamentary elections on schedule fell apart Monday when the current Parliament disregarded a vice presidential veto and pushed through new elections-related legislation that the veep swore to veto as well. The legislative deadlock has watchers wondering whether the troubled nation will be able to handle the challenges of America's coming troop withdrawal—or whether political and constitutional crises are on the horizon. The terms of the ethnically charged election were recently thought resolved, but deep-seated mistrust between Shiite leadership and Sunni underclass—as well as the Kurdish minority—have caused earlier deals to fall apart, and January's elections will likely be delayed. The current Parliament's constitutional mandate ends on March 15, and an election is supposed to happen 45 days before that; if elections fail to occur before the expiration date, it is unclear how the nation would proceed.