This Washington Post (requires simple registration) article offers some hope about the upcoming Iraqi elections. No one can know for sure whether they will be successfully pulled off or even if, after successful elections, the result will be an increase in stability and peace. But it is the best hope the Iraqis and the Americans and their allies have now; there is now no other path forward.
P.S. I should point out, however, that Carlos Valenzuela, the U.N. official who is supervising the process seems remarkably dense:
The election commission decided to stain the finger of each voter to keep them from voting again, despite concerns that doing so might scare some people from going to the polls, he said. And he defended the use of the stain, despite problems during the recent presidential election in Afghanistan in which the wrong ink was applied and many voters found it could be easily removed.
“I tested it myself. I can tell you it cannot be taken off,” said Valenzuela, who has helped supervise 14 elections. “It really is top level.”
That’s just inviting the terrorists to kill anyone with a stained finger. Duh.