The Iraqi Election of 2010...

As the final Iraqi election results trickle in, the top spot has been decided. Only two seats separate the incumbent Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki and his rival and former PM, Iyad Allawi. Both account for some 180 of the 325 seats in the Iraqi Parliament.

Allawi, a Shi'a Muslim like his opponent, rallied disenfranchised Arab Sunnis to his cause in a contest that saw many post-Saddam Sunnis banned from the election and leary of the Tehran-influenced, Shi'a majority government.

In the distance we hear the celebratory gunfire from election-happy folks in a West Baghdad neighborhood. Nice Iraqi people with good intentions... let the world know that free falling bullets come down from the sky at a rate of 150 feet a second...

On the other side of town, we see and read of somber-looking, election-weary folks. Good Iraqis taking time to "spontaneously" express their views by demanding an ballot recount... in the tranquil streets of Sadr City.

Meanwhile, homemade bombs are bursting... killing 43 and maiming many more in a popular restaurant in Khalis, just north of Baghdad. The al-Qaeda of Mesopotamia want to let their collective voices be heard as well while the national election results are being tallied...