Chalabi, the peace maker

When I read the news of Ahmad Chalabi being appointed acting oil minister of Iraq, I was mystified. Why would you appoint such a controversial politician to such an important ministry?

But when I read this, something clicked:

"Dr. Ahmad may remain oil minister for weeks or months. It depends on reaching a political agreement," Nabil al-Moussawi, a senior Chalabi aide told Reuters.

This might encourage them to find an agreement sooner. Reminds me of when I was a kid, and my mother was making us decide between something, like grilled cheese sandwiches or pizza for dinner. And if we didn't decide quick enough, it would become: "grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, or a poke-in-the-eye?" And no, she never poked us in the eye, but we usually decided quickly after being faced with that third, scarier option.

Seems like Riverbend might not have been far off in a post she wrote back at the beginning of March called Chalabi for the Nobel Peace Prize.