American Views Abroad

 
In trying to make sense of what happened in Iraq on Sunday, Reading the Elections by Phyllis Bennis at the Institute of Policy Studies www.ips-dc.org sums up the six vital facts of what the election was about and then discusses them in detail. First and foremost the Iraqis voted 'to reclaim control of their country.' How high was turnout? According to Bennis, only 280,000 Iraqis abroad even registered, out of 1.2 million qualified to. Short term, Bush emerges as the winner through claiming that Iraqis participation and enthusiasm equals legitmacy for the war and occupation:

' It is a huge insult to the people of Iraq to claim that enthusiasm for democracy only emerged when it was 'offered' to Iraq in the form of elections imposed under the conditions of military occupation. The Iraqi election was not legitimate.'

Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan, has a website Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion www.juancole.com. Today he posted:

'And this is what the winners, if they are winners, think of the U.S.: No one welcomes the foreign troops in Iraq. We believe in the ability of Iraqis to run their own issues, including the security issue.'

In another article published by History News Network, he wrote: 'Many of the voters came out to cast their ballots in the belief that it was the only way to regain enough sovereignty to get American troops back out of their country. The new parlament is unlikely to make such a demand immediately, because its members will be afraid of being killed by the Baath military. One fears a certain amount of resentment among the electorate when this reticence becomes clear.'

And then there is The Story of the Ghost by William Rivers Pitt in www.truthout.org.

Where is this taking us all?

- posted by Gloria @ 11:42 AM