Occupation Forces Halt Elections Throughout Iraq

The Washington Post ^ | June 28, 2003 | William Booth and Rajiv Chandrasekaran

[leftiesareloonie]

SAMARRA, Iraq -- U.S. military commanders have ordered a halt to local elections and self-rule in provincial cities and towns across Iraq, choosing instead to install their own handpicked mayors and administrators, many of whom are former Iraqi military leaders.

The decision to deny Iraqis a direct role in selecting municipal governments is creating anger and resentment among aspiring leaders and ordinary citizens, who say the U.S.-led occupation forces are not making good on their promise to bring greater freedom and democracy to a country dominated for three decades by Saddam Hussein.

[leftiesareloonie]

It just amazes me how different this is working from the way Bush sold this to begin with. It's a hard to sell this as a war of "liberation" to the Iraqi people if we are unwilling to let them participate in governing.

I love this quote from the article:

"In a postwar situation like this, if you start holding elections, the people who are rejectionists tend to win," Bremer said. "It's often the best-organized who win, and the best-organized right now are the former Baathists and to some extent the Islamists." Bremer was referring to members of Hussein's Baath Party and religiously oriented political leaders.

This is just what some warned about before the war. If we held elections, the bad guys would win. If we didn't hold elections, we'd look like occupiers rather than liberators.

I hope against hope that the Bushies have a real plan for getting us out of this in reasonably short order. So far, it looks like all the pre-war fantasies are being dashed against the hard rock of reality

[RJCogburn]

A mess. Poor planning, it would appear.

[Prodigal Son]

It just amazes me how different this is working from the way Bush sold this to begin with.

Jeez, man. Bush is not divine. He can't tell the future. As Rummy says "The future is unknowable". Bush stopped a war that had been going on for over 12 years. That's a pretty good accomplishment if you ask me. We'll get elections and democracy ironed out over there eventually. It might not happen soon enough to please Bush's detractors but it will happen (provided this is what the Iraqis really want- descent into an Islamic Fundie State isn't an option).

[RichardW]

This makes no sense at all. I'm beginning to worry about the competence of whoever is running this postwar administration.

[Tokhtamish]

Maybe the predictions of democratizing Iraq are colliding with the hard realities of a lawless, violent mafia culture on the ground.

Saddam Husseins do not emerge from vaccuums. Such men and such regimes are the products of the societies that created them. Maybe Baathist thuggery is simply Iraqi political culture writ large, as we are finding. There is no silent majority of Iraqi democrats.

For now, the task is simply restoring order and stopping the daily killing of American soldiers. No reconstruction can take place until this happens. This is the Diem-Syngman Rhee phase. If this means an iron fist approach and putting a colloborator infrastructure in place, so be it.

[norton]

Everybody is right.

You need elections as early as possible and for as many significant things as possible (elect a council and let them appoint the dog catcher, don't start with the dog catcher).

But, we are dealing with people with no recent experience in self governance, whom we do not have the slightest information on, and who are pretty irate about everything in their lives up to date.

Since we can't manage to get through an election in the US without accusations of fraud and real signs of votor stupidity; what should we anticipat in Iraq?

Still, I like the town/regional council idea with US advisors on hand to smooth out rough spots. In any event you have to be fairly sure of a base before asking people to make it work for themselves.

As a footnote: someone mentioned that Kissinger was part of the current US administrator's upbringing - that scares the cr*p out of me!

[cksharks]

It amazes me that not one person of this thread is questioning the WASHINGTON POST I watched on Fox news I think it was thursday night where they were holding elections in some small town and the military were just proud as hell. I guess I am supposed to believe the WP above my own eyes.Every body is so intent on jumping on Bush! sheeeshh

[RJCogburn]

It might not happen soon enough to please Bush's detractors

One need not be a "Bush detractor" to be uneasy about this mess.

[norton]

And you are right as well.

Amazing (?) that will all our 'free press' it's not to be trusted.

Isn't it?

[Captain Kirk]

Diem phase? And you think we stay in this mess after making this comparison? Freepers are the funniest folks sometimes.

[Tokhtamish]

Getting rid of Diem was a big, big mistake.

We didn't get rid of Syngman Rhee. That stabilised South Korea.

We are in the 'local strongman' phase where order will have to be maintained by the rump of the existing Iraqi military and police forces. We cannot police the streets of Baghdad without losing a man a day.

If we can successfully create a colloborator infrastructure, and I see signs that we can do so (I get the impression that the Iraqi soldiers demonstrating for back pay will work for us if paid to do so. Which is fine by me.) we will win.

After all, people who go around blowing up oil pipelines do not give a damn about the interests of the Iraqi people. They need that oil to put food on the table. I suspect that fact is kinda sinking in right now with most Iraqis.

[Captain Kirk]

"colloborator infrastructure" "strong man?" Next, you'll be quoting Kipling and telling us how we should help our little brown brothers. I have a different conception of America as an model of liberty and self rule for the rest of the world.....but then I guess your social engineering approach is winning the day.

[dsutah]

I've been noticing that myself! While WP isn't as bad as NYT in bias; it can slant things too. I've been reading about local elections taking place, as well. It seems that some publications are trying to make us doubt what we see, hear, thoughts and beliefs; and it's very creepy!

[Prodigal Son]

One need not be a "Bush detractor" to be uneasy about this mess.

And? I support Bush and it makes me uneasy as well. But I'm not going to sit around and harp about Bush not being able to predict every step of the way down to the minutest of details. That's absurd. It's disengenuous. It's childish. It's like people are saying "No, Bush said it would happen exactly like this and I figured I didn't need to give it any thought whatsoever- just believe him 100% and if it doesn't turn out exactly like he said..."

It just grates on me that's all. We've got enough problems with the dems carping. The Troops need support at this time as does the President. If he isn't going to get it from us- who then? This is a tricky and dicey situation we've got going on the ground in Iraq. There are more important things than having elections swiftly. I mean, they've had Saddam all this time they can endure another year (if needs be).

Let 'em enjoy their freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly etc for right now. Those things aren't being denied them. They have these things where they didn't before. Let them use these new freedoms to debate what kind of government to have- not just rush off half cocked and pick one out of the UN catalogue. It was over a decade after we declared or independence from England before we had our Constitution. As history should instruct the Iraqis, it pays sometimes to take it slowly and get it right.

When we get the lights up and running, law and order on the streets then we can move on to things that have lower priority- like elections.

[concentric circles]

Hmmm...
The headline reads "occupation forces" when so many other terms are available including "liberation forces." The Washington Post is doing it's best to undermine the Bush administration and I would love to see it's efforts get less attention around here.

We just threw a major supporter of terrorism off his seat of power and the dust hasn't even settled. As the moderates awaken to the fact that they can control the destiny of their nation and that the price of freedom is blood and sweat then they will start to take on the dirty work of running their own country.

There is a long line of hand wringing, nervous Nellys looking for every opportunity to point the finger of failure at this administration. It would serve them well to consider that their freedom to speak out in judgement was purchased by the blood sacrifice of people with a vision of a better world.

[MEGoody]

"So far, it looks like all the pre-war fantasies are being dashed against the hard rock of reality."

Yes, the fantasies of those who thought this would all be over in a couple of months. Anyone with common sense would understand that setting up a government doesn't happen that quickly, particularly with the other issues being dealt with, e.g. hostile forces coming over the borders to incite trouble, attempting to restore basic services and searching for WMD.

The citizens of this country are like whiney little children demanding instant gratification and TV movie-like resolution to problems.

[y2k_free_radical]

Better to hold off than allow ISLAMIC MILITANTS,BAATHISTS to win and then be accused ofnot responding to a legally elected government

[leftiesareloonie]

A collaborator infrastructure, as you call it in your excellent phrase, would be a damned good thing.

One little difficulty is it looks like the rejectionists are now going after anyone who collaborates with us.

This is level of difficulty 10, on a 1-10 scale, I'd say.

[leftiesareloonie]

You didn't really buy that stuff about bringing democracy to Iraq, did you?

I kept saying in posts before the war that that was a load of hooey.

A democratic Iraq is a non-existent Iraq. Such an Iraq would be dominated by Shia's and the Kurs and the Sunni's would find that intolerable.

The only thing that held Iraq together was the Baath party and its organs of repression, and the Republican Guard.

There can be a stable post-Baathist Iraq only if something equally oppressive, but more friendly to the West, is put in its place.

That's gotta be our real agenda. Anything else is fantasy-land extraordinaire.