Friday's announcement of the results of the electoral recount in Baghdad was accompanied by numerous bomb blasts in and around the city, confirming analysts predictions of the potential for violence and making clear the urgency behind forming a new government. That, unfortunately, is not likely to deter insurgent groups from carrying out more attacks, but it will present an organized, united front to fight the terrorists, hopefully in a more inhospitable environment. The most murderous troublemaker on the scene in Iraq appears to be Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, an off-shoot of the terrorist organization that had no role whatsoever in Iraq before the US invasion and occupation. It can now notch the lives of thousands in its bloody belt and if its leaders' threats carry any weight, worse is on the way. There are those for whom carnage has become a way of life in Iraq. Now that the vote recount is complete, however, and the charges of massive fraud by incumbent Nuri Al-Maliki's party have been found to be baseless, it is time for Iraqi politicians, including Al-Maliki, to put their country first and build a government of national reconciliation as soon as possible. Clearly, the vast majority of Iraqis are repulsed by the senseless attacks of recent days. The rejection of the status quo was evident in the election, which with significant Sunni support gave a majority of parliamentary seats to the secular Shiite, Ayad Allawi. Given the blood that has flowed and the pure exhaustion that has settled over the Iraqi people, it is little wonder that the majority of those who voted opted for a neutral candidate. A coalition government with equitable representation must be installed in Baghdad as soon as possible. This will attract the opening of more diplomatic missions in the Iraqi capital, lending a further legitimacy to the new government. But the more the Iraqis tarry in carrying out this responsibility, the more they make the country open to Al-Qaeda to do its murderous mischief. __
