It took a while, but Iraq's major parties have agreed on a national unity government.

This will arguably be Iraq's first true unity government, as it will bring in major representation of the Sunnis who had largely avoided the polls in 2005. Allawi's party will reportedly hold the speakership, while Maliki continues as PM. The Sadrists were not quite left in the cold, but it appears they will not be major players. Look for Allawi to push back against Iranian influence, which is absolutely abhorred by his Sunni constituents, and not especially beloved among most Shia and Kurds.

The fiercely pro-American Kurds deserve a lot of credit for pushing Maliki's party towards a unity government. While Iraq has enormous challenges, as does most of the region, as the first Arab state to achieve a semblance of liberal democracy the Mesopotamian country also has unique potential -- and has already achieved much that was deemed impossible by most observers only four years ago.