Iraq to have a Kurdish President

One has to wonder what Sadaam Hussein is thinking in his prison cell. Some years back, he dumped chemical weapons on the Kurds and sought to destroy them all, in the name of a fully-Arab Iraq. Now, it looks like a Kurd will be president... the position he held for decades.

Leaders of the main political blocs said veteran Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani would be named president at a parliament meeting on Wednesday, more than nine weeks after millions of Iraqis braved insurgent bombs to vote. Politicians said the two vice presidents will be Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shi'ite who was finance minister in the outgoing government, and Sunni Arab tribal leader Ghazi Yawar, the previous president. The Islamist-led Shi'ite alliance that won a slim majority in parliament and the Kurdish coalition that came second in the polls have been arguing over the shape of the new government for weeks. They have also been trying to include representatives of the Sunni Arab minority that dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein but was left sidelined after most Sunni Arabs stayed away from the Jan. 30 polls. There are only 17 Sunni Arab lawmakers in the 275-member parliament.

More proof that the Almighty has a sense of humor and a powerful sense of irony.