BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi lawmakers voted on a slate of leaders Thursday, and Ayad Allawi - America's man in Baghdad for the past 10 months - was nowhere to be seen.
The elections three months ago and subsequent negotiations have empowered Islamists and marginalized Allawi, the Bush administration's secular favorite who served as Iraq's interim prime minister since last June.
The Bush administration seemed prepared to live with the results Thursday.
"That government reflects the will of the Iraqi people," said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. "And ... we accept and will ... work with it and are respectful of it for that reason."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2270&ncid=2270&e=1&u=/krwashbureau/20050428/ts_krwashbureau/_bc_usiraq_allawi_waHere we go again...