Political Progress in Iraq?

This weekend brought about several underreported stories of political progress in Iraq. Any story of political progress in Iraq should always be met with a healthy dose of skepticism and caution, however that is no excuse for the blogosphere being the only outlet for them. While the MSM media had a literal orgy with the GAO report, there was little mention of potential political breakthroughs on several fronts.Of course, I have already pointed out that this GAO report may in fact be bunk.

there's nothing striking about them. The Democratic Congress ensured that the report would deliver negative "grades" forthe Iraqi government by asking the GAO
to evaluate whether or not the benchmarkshave been met now--just two months after the major combat operations of thesurge began. For the report from theWhite
House, Congress asked theadministration to detail if the Iraqis are making"sufficient progress." ButCongress asked the GAO, by contrast, to report if theIraqis had "completed" thebenchmarks. This ridiculous standard was a Congressional trap that forced theGAO to waste time and taxpayer money to come out with a pre-ordained and meaningless judgment, since no one ever promised or expected that the Iraqis would have met the benchmarks by now. And the GAO report doesn't really shed light on the key question: Are the Iraqis making progress?"

This GAO report has captured the spotlight either way since the Washington Post initially leaked it. What hasn't garnered much attention though is reports of political progress in Iraq. This is the same political progress that most Democrats now say is impossible.I had to go here to find this story

Representatives from Iraq's Sunni and Shia groups attending secret talks in Finland have agreed a set of principles aimed at ending sectarian violence.Politicians from Northern Ireland and South Africa also attended the four-daymeeting, to share their experiences of bringing divided communities together.The Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, was one of thechairmen of the talks. The event was organised by a conflict prevention groupbased in Finland. The group, CrisisManagement Initiative, released a statement late on Monday, saying the participants had "committed themselves to work towards a robust framework for a lasting settlement".

As a result of this meeting in Finland, this was published, a 33 page agreement among the major factions for national reconciliation and a cessation of violence. Isn't this the political progress everyone was hoping for...

Then there is this

The agreement by the five leaders was one of the most significant political developments in Iraq for months and was quickly welcomed by the United States,which hopes such moves will ease sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands.More:But skeptics will be watching for action amid growing frustration in Washington over the political paralysis that has gripped the government of Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.White House spokeswomanEmily Lawrimore congratulated Iraq’s leaders on the accord, hailing it in astatement as “an important symbol of their commitment to work together for thebenefit of all Iraqis.”

The apparent breakthrough comes two weeks before U.S.President George W. Bush’s top officials in Iraq present a report that couldhave a major influence on future American policy in Iraq…Iraqi officials said the five leaders had agreed on draft legislation that would ease curbs onformer members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party joining the civil service and military.Consensus was also reached on a law governing provincial powers aswell as setting up a mechanism to release some detainees held without charge, a key demand of Sunni Arabs since the majority being held are Sunnis.

This could be huge, but it got no traction in the MSM. Why is that...