Media Falls Down in Iraq Coverage (Juan Cole)

[struggle4progress]

... (The) Bush administration opposed one-person, one-vote elections of this sort. First they were going to turn Iraq over to Chalabi within six months. Then Bremer was going to be MacArthur in Baghdad for years. Then on November 15, 2003, Bremer announced a plan to have council-based elections in May of 2004. The US and the UK had somehow massaged into being provincial and municipal governing councils, the members of which were pro-American. Bremer was going to restrict the electorate to this small, elite group ...

So if it had been up to Bush, Iraq would have been a soft dictatorship under Chalabi, or would have had stage-managed elections with an electorate consisting of a handful of pro-American notables. It was Sistani and the major Shiite parties that demanded free and open elections and a UNSC resolution ... But the Americans have been unable to provide them the requisite security for truly aboveboard democratic elections ...

... Iraq is an armed camp. There were troops and security checkpoints everywhere. Vehicle traffic was banned. The measures were successful in cutting down on car bombings that could have done massive damage ... There is every reason to think that when the vehicle traffic starts up again, so will the guerrilla insurgency ...

The Iraqis did not know the names of the candidates for whom they were supposedly voting ... There were even some angry politicians late last week who found out they had been included on lists without their permission ...

http://progressivetrail.org/articles/050131Cole.shtml

[EVDebs]

1. Don't worry, they get to do it all over again in October !

[struggle4progress]

2. Yet another government that spreads poverty because the natural riches ...

... of the country so inflame the greed of a few ...