Iraq: Does the Administration Really Support the Electoral Blacklist?

In a bit of a surprise, al-Arabiya relays an AFP report that shows Vice President Biden expressing the U.S. administration’s support for the recently released blacklist of Ba’th affiliated candidates. Biden traveled to Baghdad last Friday in a visit which signaled for many observers the administration’s discomfort with the current trajectory of Iraq’s electoral season. However, Biden quickly dismissed any notion that the U.S. would intercede, saying “I want to make clear I am not here to resolve that issue. This is for Iraqis to do, not for me.”

Meanwhile, Spencer Ackerman parses Biden’s language and derives a different conclusion than AFP, stating, “You can’t fairly look at [his] statement and say Biden blessed the process.” On the other hand, Ackerman notices a fair amount of subtlety within Biden’s remarks, conceding that perhaps Biden’s “soft touch” failed to “emphasize the dangers of a second sectarian election.”

IraqPundit uses this news to take a swing at President Obama for allowing Ahmad Chalabi, whom the writer sees as “the brains” behind the blacklist, to manipulate the elections. Even more concerning than Chalabi’s “stealthy” entrenchment within Iraq’s political infrastructure, however, is what the writer sees as passive engagement from the international community over the issue of free and fair elections. “Somebody better get their act together and let the Iraqi people decide who should run the country.”

UPDATE: A series of car bombings killed at least 36 people in Baghdad today, reigniting fears that sectarian violence might escalate in advance of the March elections. The coordinated attack was the first of its kind in more than 6 weeks.