DO THE KURDS WANT TO DELAY THE ELECTION IN IRAQ?

No, says William Safire in today's New York Times.

Could it be that the courageous Kurds, with 20 percent of the population - and having been protected from Saddam's genocide for the past decade by American and British air power - were about to double-cross us and side with the Sunni Baathists who had persecuted them?
On the phone, I put it to the top Kurd serving in the interim Iraqi government, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih: Were the Kurds chickening out? "This whole story was an exercise in political spin," he replied. As he had just told Sir David Frost on BBC, Iraq is not the calamity we see on television. "I was supposed to be a Kurdish representative to that meeting, but it wasn't possible," Dr. Salih informed me. "A junior representative took part. No decision was made, and we did not endorse the delaying of the election." No waffling? "We have demonstrated our resolve in Falluja," Salih said. "Holding the election will be tough, but delaying it would be tougher. We will do everything in our power to honor our commitment to free elections."

Success will only be achieved in Iraq if the interim government there, and the US government backing them up, retains it's resolve. Somehow, I don't see George W. Bush waffling on this one, which means it is unlikely that our Iraqi allies will waffle either.