About that political progress that Amb. Ryan Crocker has been touting all week...

A carefully constructed compromise on a draft law governing Iraq’s rich oil fields, agreed to in February after months of arduous talks among Iraqi political groups, appears to have collapsed. The apparent breakdown comes just as Congress and the White House are struggling to find evidence that there is progress toward reconciliation and a functioning government here.

Hilzoy explains the significance and implications of the breakdown: "This is very serious, and very bad."