New Iraqi Gov't Seated - Post by Lt. Nunn, Guest Blogger

Today Iraq was able to seat its government after eight months of deadlock.  They have decided to keep PM Maliki for another four year term and also have the Kurdish bloc represented by keeping Talibani as the President.  Allawi, who had won the popular vote in the election, and his Iraqiyah Bloc will pick the speaker of the house of parliament.  This has come at a critical point as the US prepares to exit Iraq by December, 2011.  Many concessions had to be offered to the different political blocs in order to finalize this deal.

With the re-election of PM Maliki comes a stronger Iranian influence in Iraq through concessions made to Sadarist for their support of PM Maliki.  This could possibly undermine the US security and commercial investment opportunities.  Secretary Gates had announced earlier this week that, if invited to stay in Iraq, the US would support operations beyond 2011.

Students, my question to you is from your standpoint what do you think:  Should we maintaining a presence in Iraq and why or pull out all troops and possibly allow an increased Iranian influence?   There are positives and negatives to each argument.   (You can comment below through the school district's monitored comment section.  Please leave appropriate responses.  Inappropriate comments will not be made live.)



(Jason Nunn, a Northwood High School and Greensboro College graduate, will be a guest blogger in honor of Veterans Day.  He is a First Lieutenant in the United States Army and is currently stationed in Iraq.  We've asked him to give our Hot Topics Blog readers a first-hand account of his experience as the American Armed Forces wind down their mission in Iraq.  We are encouraging social studies classes to participate in order to help them make a real-life connection to history and current events.)