FRONT PAGE: "Iraq's Reluctant Leader Emerges as Unlikely Force," by Gina Chon, Wall Street Journal, 22 July 2009.

Plenty to worry about with al-Maliki, but plenty to admire as well. Truth is, if he hadn't emerged, we would have been forced to invent him.

Of interest: poll chart showing rising Shia approval, dropping Kurdish approval and dramatically-rising-but-still-far-lower-than-each Sunni approval.