March 9th Morning Readbook

Is Iraq ready for democracy?




Candidates Speculate on Results of Iraq Vote
Even before the votes were tallied, Iraq’s candidates and coalitions began positioning themselves in an evolving political landscape on Monday. Some claimed victory, and a few conceded defeat in an election on Sunday that the top American officials here called a milestone that kept the withdrawal of American troops on pace.


Years before US can judge Iraq success: general
The top US general in Iraq said Monday it could be years before the United States can gauge whether its long military campaign there had achieved any measure of success. General Ray Odierno was speaking a day after millions of Iraqis defied deadly bomb, mortar and rocket attacks to vote in the first parliamentary elections since 2005, seen as a test of the war-shattered state's fragile democracy.


Zabul province seeks U.S. troops, but is caught in Afghan numbers game
To work in Zabul province these days is to feel forsaken. The Americans pulled a battalion out in December. The Afghan government promises help but sends little. Meanwhile, Taliban fighters continue to pour in.


Suicide car bomber strikes Pakistani counter-terrorism offices
 A suicide car bombing at a building in Lahore that houses terrorism investigators killed at least 13 people and wounded 80 others Monday, the first terrorist strike this year to hit a major city in Pakistan's Punjab heartland.


Pakistan says U.S.-born suspect in custody is not Gadahn
Officials say the operative held in Karachi is not Al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn wanted on U.S. treason charges, but another man, from Pennsylvania. U.S. officials say they haven't heard of him.


The main headlines on Al Jazeera