“Iyad Allawi” on The Daily Caller

The lack of controversy over the August 31 transition ending combat operations in Iraq is a testament to the U.S. military. Though few are willing to declare it, America won the war in Iraq. Twice. (more)

The developments in Iraq over the past 60 hours have been anything but dull. It’s always amazing what an election can do. The results, announced Friday night, have thrown the country into a state of disarray. It’s true that former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi garnered the most votes in the Parliament but the current Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is pulling out all of the stops to make sure Allawi doesn’t get first digs at forming a government. (more)

The results from the March 7 elections were announced in Baghdad Friday night and what an upset it was.  Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi narrowly beat out current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki taking 91 seats in the Iraqi Parliament.  Maliki’s party won 89 seats.  That’s close and a severe setback for Maliki.  However, the outcome doesn’t necessarily guarantee Allawi his old job back, only allowing him to be the first to try to form a government.  Maliki did win 26 seats in the key Baghdad province, two more than Allawi. (more)

The March 7 national elections have left Iraq divided. Final results are expected today and the political jockeying is in full swing. (more)

Last July, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the American people “it is perhaps a measure of our success in Iraq that politics have come to the country.” No where is that more evident than in the ongoing vote count from the March 7 parliamentary elections. With 95 percent of the ballots tallied, former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi narrowly leads the current prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, by about 11,000 votes out of 12 million votes cast. Election officials said the results of a 100 percent preliminary count would be made public on Friday. (more)

Iraq’s Political Stalemate: Democracy’s Endgame? (more)

With more than 80% of the votes tallied in Iraq’s parliamentary elections and the race still neck and neck, hopes that the country might move beyond its deep Shiite-Sunni divide appear to be fading in a stew of sectarian politics. (more)

It has been nearly a week since Iraqis stepped into the ballot box and made history once again. Even some Western experts who predicted a 55 percent-60 percent turnout were surprised when the election commission announced that 62 percent of Iraq voted. Partial results released Thursday evening from five of Iraq’s 18 provinces showed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with a slight lead. Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was doing well in Sunni areas north and west. (more)