Iraq's Remarkable Elections

Results from Iraq's provincial elections held last Saturday are still coming in.  For the latest updates, be sure to visit the ISW Iraq Election Center. 

• Beginning in 2007, the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), one of the few Sunni groups to participate in the 2005 election, launched a successful outreach campaign to enhance its stature and political support among the Sunnis of Diyala Province by successfully exploiting their partnership with the Coalition Forces and by organizing grassroots Sunni security forces based on the model of the Al Anbar Province Awakening.
• In response to the Sunni's growing power in Diyala Province, in mid-2007, Prime Minister Maliki created a system of Tribal Support Councils with the purported goal of promoting reconciliation and resettlement.  These Tribal Support Councils, along with his use of the Iraqi Security Forces, has enabled Maliki to effectively limit the quickly growing power of the Sunnis in Diyala.

Finally, ISW is pleased to announce that U.S. Army Lieutenant General James Dubik (retired) has joined ISW as the organization’s first Senior Fellow.  In his role at ISW, Gen. Dubik will conduct research, write, and conduct briefings.  Dubik’s areas of focus will include MNSTC-I and the Iraqi Security Forces, ways to improve U.S. and allied training of indigenous security forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and counterinsurgency doctrine.