The other big news from Iraq (finalizing a government)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-zarqawi09jun09,0,7898080.story?track=tottext

The other big news from Iraq
Zarqawi's death is welcome, but finalizing a government could prove more crucial.

June 9, 2006

<snip>Still, it is the cabinet appointments that are likely to have a more lasting political effect. Just a few minutes after his joint news conference with U.S. leaders announcing Zarqawi's death, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki presented to parliament his choices for interior minister, defense minister and national security advisor — a Shiite, a Sunni and an ethnic Kurd, respectively. He thus broke a logjam that had lasted almost three weeks and threatened to render his government impotent.

Almost 1,400 bodies arrived at Baghdad's morgue last month, and on Thursday several bombs killed dozens of people and wounded scores more in Baghdad. In response to Zarqawi's death, Al Qaeda in Iraq issued a statement saying it "only makes us more determined to continue the jihad."

So Iraq's civil war appears no closer to an end because of Zarqawi's death. But Iraq is closer to a viable government because of Maliki's appointments. And its only hope for peace is for that government to be effective and accepted as representative of all of Iraq.