In Iraq, Little Pressure for Reforms

[Swede]

Both Sunni and Shiite leaders have been largely convinced for weeks that President Bush would press to keep forces in Iraq until he turns the White House over to a successor.

That has set up one of the grand ironies of the troop build-up that began early this year.

Instead, they are focusing their energy on shoring up their positions: outflanking political challengers, leaning on more-radical Shiite factions to behave and flirting with Sunni sheiks to build personal alliances

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_NO_PANIC?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-09-12-14-50-28