Maliki Supporters Post Election Gains

Preliminary Results Show Iraq Leaning Toward a Strong Central Government

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/02/AR2009020200984.html?sid=ST2009020200980

Iraq’s Fault Line

In the far north of Iraq, a 300-mile fault line — ethnic, religious, political and linguistic — runs between Arabs and Kurds. This zone of instability winds from the Syrian border near Sinjar in the northwest, down to the Iranian border near Khanaqin and Mandali.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/17/world/middleeast/20090417-faultline.html