As the NY Times reports this story:
As Death Stalks Iraq, Middle-Class Exodus Begins
In the latest indication of the crushing hardships weighing on the lives of Iraqis, increasing portions of the middle class seem to be doing everything they can to leave the country. In the last 10 months, the state has issued new passports to 1.85 million Iraqis, 7 percent of the population and a quarter of the country's estimated middle class.
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Reuters brings us this:
Iraq to get unity government
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders have agreed on a national unity government to be presented to parliament on Saturday, officials said, despite failure to reach a compromise on the sensitive defense and interior ministry portfolios.
"The government will be announced tomorrow," a senior aide to Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki told Reuters late on Friday after weeks of wrangling between rival ethnic and religious groups jockeying for power in postwar Iraq.
Which is one of the causes of the problems mentioned in the NY Times article. Hopefully the new Govt can get its act together fast. Am I betting on it? No. Merely hoping.
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