John Kerry's visit to Baghdad

"The Coalition Provisional Authority made some horrendous judgments and complicated our presence here tremendously.

"Now it's a different time and different set of judgments that need to be made. I need to understand it, so I can make the judgments. That's why I'm here, to see and hear firsthand what the dynamics are."

WaPo article

What? Is he president?

So it's all the fault of the CPA, is it? If they'd handled things right, everything would have been okay, I suppose.

Despite the violence, U.S. and Iraqi officials have remained adamant that the vote will go forward, both because the transitional law requires it by the end of January and because a delay might be seen as a victory for the insurgents.

Kerry echoed that sentiment, saying that the "elections will happen. It's something that has to happen."

And then we can start blaming the new government.

In Baiji, an insurgent hotbed in north-central Iraq, the entire city council resigned Wednesday, joining the electoral commission that had stepped down earlier, said Saad Nazzal, the mayor.

Well, that's a good start.