Iraqi vote shows deep divides still facing country

Iraq is a week away from a parliamentary election that was supposed to showcase a peaceful democracy poised to stand on its own feet after U.S. forces go home. While there have been successes, the vote also underlines the deep ethnic and sectarian tensions that are putting the country's future in the balance _ secular or Islamic, pro-Iran or pro-West.

Tension leading up to the March 7 balloting, only the second for a full, four-year parliamentary term since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, shows that despite more than 4,300 American and tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths, the ethnic and religious rivalries that fueled the war remain largely unresolved.

If the …