The Shia block has split, and the current Prime Minister is being asked to resign in Iraq.
This strikes me as nothing but good news. Aside from the fact that the man has been unable to form a government for three months, it's also pretty clear that he's viewed as a weak leader (part of the reason he hasn't been able to form a government.) Finally admitting he isn't the man for the job opens up the possibility that the Iraqis can come to closure on a unity government quickly, with someone in the top job who can provide real leadership.
But check out the Times' coverage. The first 9 paragraphs are devoted to the timing of yesterday's events and to the possibility that this might lead to an increase in violence, based entirely on speculation -- I mean, they got nothing, nothing beyond the facts that some of the players do not have a reputation for playing well with others, and have militias. Okay. Where's the evidence that this is going to lead to open fighting between the camps? There is none, it's one possibility.
Fine. Give it a paragraph.
Then lay out the general consensus -- this this guy stepping aside will help the situation enormously.
That we do not read until paragraph 10, in a less than enthusiastic (or clear) explanation:
The eruption among the Shiites could also redraw Iraq's political coalitions, if some Shiite politicians leave the bloc to side with other groups in the 275-member Parliament. That would weaken the religious Shiites, and it is one of the great fears of the most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Since cobbling together the fragile Shiite coalition in late 2004, the ayatollah and his aides have been working hard to keep it together to ensure that the religious Shiites assume power over Iraq's minority Sunni Arab and Kurdish populations through elections.
Note, "eruption," not change in position, and note there is no discussion of the probability of different scenarios for political realignment.
Nothing in this story lays out the ways this could be a positive development, something many commentators have been laying out for days.
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