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Iraqi politics: Breakthrough or another breakdown?
A flurry of proposals has led to considerable movement in Iraq's seven-month political deadlock but neither Iraqi nor US officials are counting on an imminent announcement ending Iraq's epic struggle to form a government.
As the country lurched into the history books with one of the longest delays in government formation ever after holding elections, followers of hard-line Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced they had withdrawn their opposition to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and would back him for a second term.
The turn-around by the Sadr movement, the biggest single bloc in parliament, brings Mr. Maliki only four seats away from the majority he needs to form a coalition. But the other major requirements for a workable government–inclusion of the main Sunni parties and of the Kurds–have yet to be met.