It is vital that Iraq's political leaders take advantage of recent improvements in the security situation to make substantive progress in the political process. We continue to press Iraq's political leaders to move the reconciliation process forward through the completion of a thoroughgoing and broadly supported constitutional review and early passage of legislation key to this process, such as that on de-Ba'athification, provincial powers, elections, hydrocarbons and revenue sharing.
We welcome the agreements reached by Iraqi political leaders on some of these contentious issues in August and urge them to follow through on the commitments made.