Iraqi democrats can't win in this desperate election
by Jonathan Steele in Basra

The real battlelines in Iraq are not so much between Sunnis and Shias as between those who go along with the occupation and those who resist it. We may be witnessing the Vietnamisation of the war, as the guerrilla insurgency puts down roots in more and more cities to the north and west of Baghdad and starts to take the fight to districts of Baghdad.

Haifa Street, close to the capital's very heart, is already becoming a no-go area. In the future more areas of the city may see roving guerrilla checkpoints. If the US follows the brutal tactics it adopted against Falluja and inflicts them on other population centres, the insurgency will spread even faster.

Sunday's election will show that you can manage to hold an election in the midst of an insurgency. It will therefore be hailed as a logistical and democratic triumph. But it will not solve Iraq's central problem: how to restore the country's sovereignty.

Full story here.