Good News in Iraq?

It's almost impossible to write the six words that make up the title of this post without ending with a question mark.  But today's New York Times offers a glimmer of hope.  Or maybe it's the hint of a glimmer.  Either way, the news about Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's leading Shiite cleric and a man who holds great political power in Iraq, is promising:

[Ayatollah Sistani] has tentatively approved an American-backed coalition of Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties that aims to isolate extremists, particularly the powerful Shiite militia leader Moktada al-Sadr, Iraqi and Western officials say...American officials have been told by intermediaries that Ayatollah Sistani “has blessed the idea of forming a moderate front,” according to a senior American official. “We wouldn’t have gotten this far without his support.”...

...Shiite infighting has paralyzed the government. Since Mr. Sadr’s loyalists began boycotting the government last month, the Parliament has been unable to form a quorum, preventing the passage of laws.

The new coalition is aimed at circumventing that kind of conflict, its leaders say, which is probably why Ayatollah Sistani is willing to lend his support.

Any agreement that would isolate Moktada al-Sadr and other extremists, while also allowing the Parliament to get back to governing would be a huge advance.  Although Tom Friedman's column from today has some sobering advice:

What people tell you in private in the Middle East is irrelevant.  All that matters is what they will defend in public in their own language.  Anything said in English, in private, doesn't count.  In Washington, officials lie in public and tell the truth off the record.  In the Mideast, officials say what they really believe in public and tell you what you want to hear in private.

I hope the President and his advisors are following Thomas Friedman's maxim (a maxim gleaned from decades of reporting on the Middle East) and paying attention to all facets of the Iraqi politicians they are counting on to make up this new, moderate coalition.  If the White House is only considering the private comments that Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders make in meetings with the President, then their is a very real chance that the Bush administration will revert to form and wind up completely divorced from reality, yet again.