A Rare Iraqi Accord

Common ground has been so hard to find between Iraq's Shi'ites and Sunnis that the U.S. will take accord wherever it can. Hence the strange sight of the White House applauding a new law that would help members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party get jobs and benefits that the U.S. had stripped from them in 2003. On Jan. 12, lawmakers in Baghdad passed legislation that would give midlevel bureaucrats who worked for the former regime a shot at government jobs, and Baathist retirees with a clean record a chance to collect pensions.

Passage of the measure marked a rare effort by Iraq's political factions to ease tensions and drew praise from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who appeared in Baghdad Jan. 15. "There seems to be a spirit of cooperation," Rice said. But a telling reflection of Baghdad's continuing dysfunction came in the vote on the law: roughly half the parliament didn't show. Moreover, the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki still faces a boycott by the country's largest Sunni bloc, the Accordance Front, and followers of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

So the act may address one of the Sunnis' key grievances, but will it really help bring the violently opposed sides closer together? Early signs are not good. Salim Abdullah al-Jubori, a parliamentarian and Accordance Front spokesman, said the issue of tens of thousands of Sunni prisoners held without trial remains a major division. "Unfortunately, we are not seeing any kind of flexibility from the government," he said. And right on cue, shortly after Rice left the Green Zone, a volley of mortars went flying in. No one was sure who fired them.