Allawi Naysayers Wrong Again.

Remember when Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi said that his country would hold its election in January, no matter what? Well, Democrats got up in arms about the little part where he said that if areas of the country were still hostile ground, they just wouldn’t get to vote – that he wouldn’t allow 90 percent of the nation to be deprived the vote because of ten percent.

Well, since then, US and Iraqi forces have pacified Sammara.

And now Fallujah appears to be falling into place.

Iraq’s plans to hold elections in January gained traction on Saturday after a Shi’ite militia agreed to disarm in Baghdad and delegates from rebel-held Falluja said the Sunni Muslim city wanted to vote in the polls.

Note the reason that the militia is giving up its arms. It’s surrendering because Fallujah wants to vote in January.

Falluja delegates said the city wanted to take part in the elections and could accept the return of Iraqi security forces.

“A delegation from Falluja is now discussing the entry of Iraqi National Guards to the city with the defense ministry,” chief Falluja negotiator Khaled al-Jumaili told Reuters.

And guess where else it’s working?

The Mehdi Army militia led by Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr agreed to hand over weapons to Iraqi police from Monday under a deal that could defuse the Baghdad flashpoint of Sadr City.

Sadr City and Fallujah, all in one fell swoop. That leaves only Najaf as the remaining serious hotspot.

Looks like Allawi and the Bush Administration are doing some very good diplomacy in Iraq.

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Category: Fighting the Islamists, Our Foreign Policy