US hopes of secular Iraqi state fade away

So America, was it worth the loss of all the lives American Coalition and Iraq, and what will the cost be for your next generation, all for an Islamic Govt. How Iran must be clapping themselves on the back, America did for them, what they had not been able to achieve themselves.

By Paul McGeough Chief Herald Correspondent in Baghdad

CONSERVATIVE religious parties have surged to a runaway lead in the counting of votes to appoint a government to run Iraq for the next four years.

With more than 60 per cent of votes tallied, Washington's hopes that the former prime minister Iyad Allawi might pull enough support to build a secular administration have faded dramatically.
Instead, a religious alliance is in the box seat. These parties are already imposing a strict religious code on daily life across swathes of the country and are closely aligned with neighbouring Iran, one of George Bush's "axis of evil" enemies.

The religious Shiites and the Kurdish parties have maintained their iron grip on the south and north respectively, but with 89 per cent of votes counted in the Baghdad melting pot, both Dr Allawi and his arch rival and one-time Pentagon darling, Ahmed Chalabi, face marginalisation.

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