Saturday, November 13, 2004
rocket the vote
Naomi Klein has a good commentary in today's Guardian.
So now, hundred of Fallujans (or perhaps more - we don't know the casualty numbers thanks to our government's secrecy) are dying in order to bring peace enough for elections, when perhaps the peace that existed a year ago should have been enough. And still the January election results may favor an anti-American government, especially given the fact that Iraqis keep dying in the name of democracy.
Now, democracy would hopefully bring good changes to the Iraq, but it's one thing to rise up and fight for democracy - it's quite another for an outside country to come in and install it by force. But hey, god is on our side, right?
(The cynic in me says that first and foremost, democracy would create another market for American products and easier access to Iraqi oil. But that's not why we went to war. Right??)
¶ 5:35 PM
Naomi Klein has a good commentary in today's Guardian.
On November 11 2003, Paul Bremer, then chief US envoy to Iraq, flew to Washington to meet George Bush. The two men were concerned that if they kept their promise to hold elections in Iraq within the coming months, the country would fall into the hands of insufficiently pro-American forces.That would defeat the purpose of the invasion, and it would threaten President Bush's re-election chances. At that meeting, a revised plan was hatched: elections would be delayed for more than a year, and in the meantime, Iraq's first "sovereign" government would be hand-picked by Washington. The plan would allow Mr Bush to claim progress on the campaign trail, while keeping Iraq safely under US control.
So now, hundred of Fallujans (or perhaps more - we don't know the casualty numbers thanks to our government's secrecy) are dying in order to bring peace enough for elections, when perhaps the peace that existed a year ago should have been enough. And still the January election results may favor an anti-American government, especially given the fact that Iraqis keep dying in the name of democracy.
Now, democracy would hopefully bring good changes to the Iraq, but it's one thing to rise up and fight for democracy - it's quite another for an outside country to come in and install it by force. But hey, god is on our side, right?
(The cynic in me says that first and foremost, democracy would create another market for American products and easier access to Iraqi oil. But that's not why we went to war. Right??)
¶ 5:35 PM
