The revenge of the Kurds...

Iraq assembly elects Kurdish president

The Iraqi parliament has chosen Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as the country's new interim president, reaching out to the nation's Kurdish minority and bringing the country closer to its first democratically elected government in 50 years.Ousted members of the former government - including toppled leader Saddam Hussein - were allowed to watch the event on Wednesday on television in their prison cells, Iraqi officials said.

Also read: Turkey welcomes Talabani's election

A Kurdish President of Iraq... even though the real power will lie in the office of the Prime Minister - who will undoubtedly be a Shi'a, it is a great symbolic victory for the Kurds. Some of the imposed measures - such as +60% majorities in Parliament for forming a government - seem to have had a positive effect. However, with the Shi'a majority yearning to have more control, I am not sure that consensus building measure will survive in the permanent constitution. IN any case, it is time that the Iraqi government take its responsibilities, and that the occupying powers leave Iraq, without establishing permanent bases. Let the Bush administration prove to us that they do not have ulterior motives...