Bush hopes Iraq can deliver what coalition could not

With the installation of an interim government in Baghdad, President George Bush is banking on an untested group of Iraqi officials to achieve results that the US-led occupation could not deliver: security, stability and economic progress.

Iraq’s unrelenting violence and bloodshed have thrown a damper on Bush’s re-election prospects, raising White House anxieties about the transition of power in Baghdad and the unpredictability of events in the four months until the election.