The Globe and Mail has an article about the situation in Kirkuk. Here Kurds are returning to land they were forced out of as part of Saddam's Arabization program, which of course means the imported Arabs are going to be forced out now. The city government is imposing a plan where profits for this harvest will be split equally between the Kurdish and Arab farmers, but that goes for this year only. Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, Bremer has cancelled an election scheduled in the city of Najaf that would have been the first full election for local government in American-occupied Iraq. When the U.S. invaded ostensibly to install democracy, this seems like the worst kind of bonehead manuever. Even if an anti-American candidate had won, by allowing them to govern we would be showing that we are serious about the ideals we claim to represent, and lessen anti-Americanism in the city. Juan Cole also mentions that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has called upon Iraqis to press Americans to leave. Sistani has been critical of delays in the transition to Iraqi rule, and I wonder if the election cancellation was a factor in his decision.