Iraq, the uniter

Credit the U.S. invasion of Iraq with another unintended consequence: Iran and Iraq are speaking again, and exchanging high-level visits.

The same war that spawned a faction of al-Qaida where none existed now has the two countries rushing into a regional political embrace. They spent most of the 1980s slaughtering one another. Combined casualties are estimated at 1 million.The toppling of Saddam Hussein and his Sunni minority created an opportunity for the Shiite majority. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, both Shiites, have found common ground despite the epic bloodshed.

The United States is left fidgeting on the sidelines, wondering what a provisional ally and an adversary are talking about in private.

Groping for the best possible spin, the Bush administration is reduced to speculation of how these ties might be exploited to tamp down behavior in Tehran that Washington has been unable to influence. The Associated Press reports U.S. diplomats are watching to see how Shiite alliances and militias in Iraq are reconfigured after the Iranian contacts.

Left unsaid is what the new arrangements mean for the future of a united, central government in Iraq. The U.S. military surge put a premium on using local tribes and power structures to enforce stability, region by region, Shiite or Sunni. Things calmed down, but might have undermined Baghdad in the process.

Two Shiite leaders, once sworn enemies, send out their own message to Sunnis and Kurds as they embrace. The U.S. watching from the outside with no more capacity to influence events than to keep the electricity running.