Six Months on, Where's Iraq's New Government? Talks on a coalition government have come full circle in Iraq six months after an election that produced no clear winner and which has pitted a Sunni-backed alliance against the country's main Shiite-led factions. A resolution to the impasse appears as distant as ever as politicians fight over top positions, in particular that of prime minister. Public impatience, despair and disillusionment with Iraq's democratic experiment are mounting. Attacks by Sunni Islamist insurgents seeking to exploit the vacuum and to whip up mistrust in the security forces after the end to U.S. combat operations on Aug. 31 continue unabated. Suicide assaults and assassinations of officials and anti-al Qaeda militia leaders are stoking fears of a return to broader violence just as Iraq emerges from the worst of the bloodshed and chaos set off after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
