The state of politics in Iraq

Bill Ardolino at The Long War Journal has started a multi-part series on the political situation in Iraq that's pretty in depth and informative. The first installment is up called Inside Iraqi politics – Part 1. Examining the Iraqi executive branch

• Security gains in Iraq have maintained momentum for five months and the focus has turned to spurring and gauging the country’s political progress. The ultimate goal of the troop surge executed by the military was for improved security to provide “breathing room” for such progress, which can be simplified to three fronts: “ground-up” political progress, executive political progress by the federal government, and federal legislative progress.