Adil Abd al-Mahdi was confirmed as Iraq’s fifth prime minister since the Coalition Provisional Authority late Wednesday, along with 14 of 22 Cabinet ministers, with more political wrangling to come. The new government reflects a broad cross-section of political parties and ethno-sectarian identity groups – continuing a trend of consensus governance that has characterized Iraq for more than a decade, resulting in both broad participation in the political process and dysfunctional patronage-based politicking.