The United States' efforts to help form a new government in Iraq may be needed, after more than six months of wrangling among rival factions. However, it is unfortunate that the Iraqis need the intervention of the US administration to get an agreement. This is obviously indicative of the political immaturity of the ruling establishment.
There are those who believe what is happening in Iraq is the result of the democracy learning process. Democracy is a system in which hardly one would get a consensus. But as much as democracy is welcome in a multi-ethnic, multi-sect Iraq, the security challenges in the still-occupied country are far greater to allow for the luxury of a political vacuum.
The US initiative, reportedly aimed at forming a national unity government in which the outgoing Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki would share power with his main rival Eyad Allawi, might succeed in finally breaking the deadlock. But Iraq deserves mature leaders, statesmen who can steer the country, one of the richest states in the region, out of its current quandary.
Finally, it is also unfortunate that no Arab state, or the Arab League, was willing to mediate in the six-month old crisis. The Arabs again missed a chance to assert their natural influence in Iraq.
