Charles Krauthammer has an article at National Review Online today about the significance of the agreement between Iraq and America which has just been ratified by the Iraqi government. He points out that the only Iraqis opposed to the agreement were the followers of Moktada al Sadr (al Sadr himself is still hiding out in Iran). The Sadrists represent 30 seats in the Iraqi Parliament out of 275. The Sunnis were also concerned about the agreement--fearing that the US would leave too soon and leave them vulnerable to some sort of political retribution (not unheard of in Iraqi politics).
The agreement does have flexibility to it--if conditions on the ground change and US troops need to stay longer than the agreement, the Iraqi Parliament can authorize that. Hopefully, that will not happen, but it's good to know it is an option.
According the Charles Krauthammer, there are two main reasons that this agreement is a landmark. First, it is a major defeat for Iran, who had hoped to destabilize Iraq in order to take it over. Iran and Iraq have been arch enemies for a long time, and the Shiites in Iraq were considered to be influenced by Iran. Well, the Shiites have signed the agreement. Second, the emergence of Iraq as a democracy (with all its flaws and imperfections) is something that many experts thought impossible. This is a step towards fighting terrorism generationally--as Iraq gains its strength and the people in it prosper, terrorism will become something they have no use for. Countries that have stable governments, stable economies and free markets are generally too busy doing constructive things to want to tear down their societies. Terrorism is a death cult--people who are successful are generally not interested in dying--they are more interested in accomplishing things.
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