...The Nuri al-Maliki government, which was formed in May 2006 as the first "unity government" after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, is now facing a major breakdown in its multi-sectarian coalition. In late June, Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a senior Shiite politician, resigned from his post. As a major figure in one of the most powerful Shiite parties, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), Abdul Mahdi made his resignation in response to the second bombing of the shrine of Samarra and what he called the government's inability to protect Iraqi citizens from insurgent attacks. The move by the former vice president followed another major drawback for the al-Maliki government: the withdrawal of the largest Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Accord Front (IAF), from the unity government. These two major events appear in a period when accusations against the alleged centralization of control by al-Maliki and his Da'wa party are rapidly spreading in the country. Baghdad is unstable politically, and the outcome of this meltdown is bound to harm the future of democracy in Iraq....
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