'...local elections that have happened across most of Iraq already'?
If that's true, that's quite meaningful in terms of Iraqi self-determination, and should have been much, much more widely reported. The culture of democracy really begins and takes root at the local town or village level, when villagers are welcome to attend town hall type meetings and question their local (elected!) reps about the state of the schools, roads, clinics, police, etc. in their home town.