U.S. should back off Iraq -- analyst

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. government should back away from pressuring Baghdad on the Iraqi election law as the vote does not necessarily equate to stability, an analyst says.

Iraqi lawmakers handed in an amended 2005 election law to Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and members of a presidential council for their approval. Hashemi vetoed certain sections of the law and has now called on lawmakers to reconvene during an extraordinary meeting during the weekend to consider the measure.

Iraq cannot go ahead with a vote without the election law and the United Nations has proposed delaying the election one month to February. Washington has intervened with pressure on Iraqi lawmakers as it moves to end its mission there.

But Rachel Schneller, a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. State Department writing for the Council on Foreign Relations, says the current draft of the election law under review could make things worse in Iraq if approved.

The Sunni minority, including Hashemi, could resort to "desperate measures" to gain power as the new election law under review provoked claims of Shiite dominance, she writes.

Schneller writes that elections in Iraq are not a sign of stability and the current debate is healthy as Baghdad considers its power-sharing arrangements.

"The United States would do well to back away from the policy of elections at any cost," she concludes.