For months, while Iceland's NATO partners listened in silent apprehension, four of the island's five political parties vied in pre-election demands for the removal of the 5,000 U.S. troops from strategic Keflavik air base. Last week, full of such talk, Icelanders went to the polls in the uninterrupted light of the long northern day.
The Independence Party of wing-collared Premier Olafur Thors, alone in wanting the Americans to stay, got the largest popular vote, up 5% from the election three years ago, but Iceland's complicated electoral laws gave it only 19 seats in the Althing (parliament), a...