The situation in Iraq seems to be improving, finally.

The focus of the clashes is now Mosul, on which there is a very good article in the NY times yesterday.

When American military officials talk about “Iraqis in the lead,” Colonel Zibari is an example of what they mean: Iraqis operating their own checkpoints, doing their own patrols, using their own intelligence. American officials acknowledge that Iraqi methods often deviate from standard military doctrine but say that even rough-hewn tactics are more acceptable than the prospect of an indefinite, if more professional, occupying force.

The Bush administration says that an Iraqi Army capable of fighting on its own is a crucial prerequisite for the eventual withdrawal of American troops. But since its disbandment in 2003 by Coalition Provisional Authority Order No. 2, the Iraqi Army has struggled to regain its footing. For years, Iraqi troops have been hampered by poor training, corruption, equipment shortages and a determined insurgency that has killed twice as many Iraqi soldiers and police officers as American troops.

Now, five years into the war, American commanders say that the reborn force is coming into its own. And Mosul, an ethnically mixed city that has been under stepped-up assault by insurgents and where Iraqi Army units far outnumber their American counterparts, offers a possible glimpse into the future. But the Iraqi Army’s performance in Mosul so far suggests that while the Iraqi forces are taking on more responsibility and have made strides, there are still troubling gaps.

This was also revealing… ‘Sadrists welcome approving provinces law”

The Sadrist bloc on Thursday welcomed the recent decision taken by the presidential council to approve a draft law to hold provincial elections, asserting the decision was taken because of political and popular pressures.

It seems that finally the central government has approved the Provinces Law which paves the way for provincial elections.

This is the first step towards an armistice. Just like the Sadrists, many other armed bourgeois factions will be brought into the electoral game and give up their weapons. The conservatives and elements connected to them — ie. the pseudo-left and their accomplices on the right - have hardly blinked when the Sadrists gave up their weapons, and there has been almost zero press about the Provinces Law getting passed. Perhaps no one wants to hear it because it only strengthens scumbags like McCain/Republicans et al, but it’s true all the same. The Iraqis have had enough of mayhem. Now they can struggle as a class to seize the great wealth that Iraq is capable of producing for them.

Long live the people of Iraq — fuck imperialism and fuck those at the service of the established order right from the start.