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Throughout Thursday, there were high-profile media stories that "Iraq was about to form a Government". After eight months of limbo following March's Parliamentary elections, a deal had been struck where Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would retain his post. Sunni concerns about representation, as well as the objections of Iyad Allawi, whose supporters won the largest number of seats in March, would be met through a new national and economic security committee.
We refrained from posting the news. Yes, members of Parliament would meet for the second time since March, and this time for longer than 11 minutes. Yes, there would be movement towards a national administration, at least with the invitation to al-Maliki to try and from a Cabinet. But, no, this is not "forming a Government". This is only one more political manoeuvre which may or may not produce alliances which tenuously allow al-Maliki to claim power.
And so it has proved.
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