BITE ME!
Posted on 01/31/2005 4:25:14 AM PST by PopGonzalez
World leaders praise Iraqi poll World leaders have praised the conduct of Iraq's first multi-party elections for more than 50 years.
President Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair - the leaders of the two nations which led the invasion of Iraq - hailed them as a resounding success.
And UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Iraqis should be encouraged to take control of their own future.
After what officials said was a higher turnout than expected, the next few days will be spent counting votes.
Preliminary results are expected in about six days, with a full result not due for 10 days.
But correspondents say there was a marked division in voting - high in Shia and Kurdish strongholds and much lower in Sunni Arab areas.
The election was marred by a series of election-day attacks across Iraq which killed at least 36 people.
But Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi described the poll as a "victory over terrorism".
'Moving and humbling'
Mr Bush congratulated the Iraqi people on a "great and historical achievement".
A large number of people have shown up to vote: men and women, Muslims and Christians, Sunnis and Shias Iraqi woman, Baghdad
"The Iraqi people themselves made this election a resounding success," he said.
"They have demonstrated the kind of courage that is always the foundation of self-government."
In London, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the election as "moving" and "humbling".
The Iraqis "came out despite the dangers," he said.
Countries which opposed the invasion also said the election had been good news for Iraqis.
French President Jacques Chirac described them as a "great success for the international community", while a spokesman for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the high turnout showed Iraqis wanted to take their future into their own hands.
Mr Annan, meanwhile, said the Iraqis had shown courage.
"The Iraqis who turned out today are courageous, they know that they are voting for the future of their country," he said.
"We must encourage them and support them to take control of their destiny."
'Eight million votes'
One of Iraq's most influential religious figures, the senior Shia leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, thanked Iraqis for voting.
ELECTION SCHEDULE Sunday: Polls opened for 10 hours, with an extension for those still queuing to vote at 1700 (1400 GMT) Vote counting for four or more days Early March: PM appointed Late March: Government formed
He said he regretted not being able to do so himself because he is Iranian by birth.
Electoral officials estimated that up to eight million Iraqis voted - more than 60% of those registered.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi expatriates in 14 other countries also voted in a mainly peaceful atmosphere, although scuffles broke out in the UK.
More than 200 parties and coalitions are competing for seats in the transitional assembly, which will draft a new Iraqi constitution ahead of planned elections for a full-term parliament.
Voting at polling stations in the country's south and north was brisk, and there were smiles and tears of joy among voters.
But reports from central Sunni cities say not all polling stations opened, and many voters stayed away out of fear of attack or opposition to the election itself.
Authorities had imposed an unprecedented series of security measures - including shoot-on-sight curfews, closed foreign borders, a ban on cars and travel restrictions within Iraq.
Despite the measures, the capital was hit by nine suicide bombings and a number of mortar attacks.
In an internet statement, a group said to be led by militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed to be behind some attacks in Baghdad and Mosul.
While Teddy and all the other American nay sayers stew in their own nasty bile. Michael Moore, Hollywood, etc. are all wrong and probably PO'd that freedom is taking place in the Middle East under the aegis of George Bush. "How can that happen?" "Nobody I knew voted for him?"
Eat some crow Dimos.
Boy, this must hurt over on Turtle Bay and in Brussels.
It is really too much.
The Iraqi Resistance
First and foremost, let's get our terms straight. There is no democratic process in Iraq. Iraq is occupied by 150,000 U.S. troops. The Baath and other parties are proscribed from participating in elections or holding public office. In a real democracy, voters are free to choose from any party. In a real democracy, a foreign occupation force does not exert any political influence whatsoever. And in a real democracy, people aren't afraid to venture out into the streets, risking rape or kidnapping in order to vote. You can't have democracy without basic security, period.
So this is not democracy.
Which gets us to the next term: "Iraqi judges," etc. By definition anyone who holds public office in an occupied country is a collaborator. This would include, for example, Palestinian Authority "leaders" under the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Now a collaborator may or not be a good person, and he may or may not be laboring under a benevolent occupier, but he is certainly a collaborator and thus a fair target for nationalist/patriotic resistance forces seeking to expel the occupiers.
Collaborators are, in some ways, even more of an enemy to the Iraqi resistance than the Americans. They demoralize the resistance and set an example of subservience that other Iraqis may emulate. It's not surprising, therefore, that Iraqi guerillas would choose to execute them.
The puppet regime is already a given. And the election is a lame attempt to legitimatize that puppet regime. Iraqis who vote in this show election are no different than Frenchmen who cheered Marshall Pétain during the Nazi occupation. Had there been an "election" under Vichy rule, it would have been the patriotic duty of every Frenchman to boycott it.
I can and do admit when I'm wrong, as readers of the Rallblog well know. And, by the way, I checked into the comparisons with the Nazi "werewolves" resistance after the fall of Germany at the end of World War II. As I wrote originally, there are no documented cases of casualties inflicted by them. None. They may have cut a few power lines, but they had nothing like the effectiveness of the current Iraqi resistance fighters--to which the Hard Right tried to compare them.
For the record: I don't share the vision of radical Islamism that some of the anti-US resistance in Iraq apparently wants to impose on Iraq and the Middle East. I wish nothing more than to see the people of the world rise up, overthrow their dictators and autocrats, and create just, peaceful, representative political and economic systems that reward people for their hard work and provide security in their everyday lives. Taliban-like theocracies are obviously antiethical to that goal.
But ultimately it's up to the citizens of each nation to decide for themselves, sometimes via civil war and acts of violence, to determine how they want to live. Who is to say that my vision, that our vision of democracy, is best for every country? Besides, we still have too much work to do here in the United States of America before we can hold ourselves up as a shining beacon of hope to the rest of the world. We have an unelected dictator for a a"president," a nation that denies tens of millions of people access to basic healthcare, kids throwing their unwanted babies into Dumpsters, young adults plunged into student loan poverty, systemic racism that divides our cities and suburbs into haves and have-nots, a wildly inadequate retirement system that the ruling party is trying to get rid of--like I said, we have a lot of work to do.
The choice between radical Islam and American-style pseudodemocracy is a false one presented by the Hard Right. There is 0.0% danger that Islamists will take over the United States. And it is 0.0% our business whether it takes over other countries.
For Ted Rall and his ilk, there's no moral difference between Generalissimo Busho and the Iraqi terrorists - which he prefers to glorify as a "resistance." Which belies his claim he wants to see genuine freedom spread around the planet. For Rall, its of no concern if Islamonazis take over the world. After all America deserves what she gets and 9/11 never happened. Like DUH. No wonder the Left thinks Iraq's first free elections were a sham.
Denny Crane: "I want two things. First God and then Fox News."
Yes and I am so angry that they can not even admit yesterday was a great day for the world. It may not be perfect. But neither was our own 'declaration' of our own independence in 1776. It was a risk. Anything worthwhile is a risk.
My father came to this country knowing no one with only the clothes on his back. It was a gamble. He could have failed. But he didn't because he was courageous. Just like our forefathers who risked and gambled everything on a great idea. Just like the Iraqi people have now done. Just like our brave president has done.
My children and grandchildren will now have a safer future tomorrow now that the Iraqi people defied evil and tyranny yesterday.
God bless them.
I suppose it would be too much to ask, though, to have them credit the USA, the Brits, their policies and their troops and their blood and anguish, with having been responsible, and sine qua non, for this process and outcome? Naaaaaaaaah.
Has anyone seen or heard comments from John Howard yet?
Turd Rall, the disingenuous rat, does not want democracy. He's a flat out dictatorial Marxist who believes in extreme violence to advance his ideology in the United States. The Turd roots for the Baathists and terrorists only for political advantage.
BITE ME!
//oh yeah -
"This message approved by Dubya"
a bump, and related topics:
America's beachhead rattles local monarchs
(New lib spin: US’s Iraqi puppet will go Chuckie on us!)
Sydney Morning Herald ^ | February 1, 2005
Paul McGeough, Chief Herald Correspondent in Baghdad
Posted on 01/31/2005 7:20:56 AM PST by dead
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1332590/posts
Birth of U.S. was rocky, too (Iraq vote - Canadian point of view)
National Post (Canada) ^ | Mon 31 Jan 2005 | Lorne Gunter
Posted on 01/31/2005 7:25:39 AM PST by GMMAC
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1332597/posts
Iraq's real resistance fights back
(Leftists & terrorists endure counterattack by democratic forces)
Sydney Morning Herald ^ | February 1, 2005 | Gerard Henderson
Posted on 01/31/2005 7:35:46 AM PST by dead
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1332607/posts
New York Mosque Teaches Hatred, Violence
New York Sun ^ | Jan 31, '05 | MEGHAN CLYNE
Posted on 01/31/2005 6:19:46 AM PST by dianaA
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1332551/posts
Outspoken Christians Stalked by Islamists
New York Sun ^ | Jan 31, '05 | DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS
Posted on 01/31/2005 6:15:19 AM PST by dianaA
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1332547/posts
Ted Rall is a real piece of work isn't he? So unremittingly anti-American. So incessantly nasty. What happened to this guy to make his so hate filled?
Nice touch!
Thanks for those links.
:')
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