Allawi seeking to establish secular front (for Iraq general elections)

[Barrett808]

Baghdad, Iraq, Jun. 13 (UPI) -- Iraqi political forces began preparing for general elections, slated at the end of the year, leading to the formation of Iraq's first elected government.

Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announced Monday he is seeking to establish a new political front of democratic and secular forces to compete against the Islamic political forces.

Also two political parties -- the Iraqi Umma Movement led by Mithal Aloussi and the Movement of New Iraq under Tarek Maamouri -- announced that they will merge, with the new party to be known as the Democratic Iraqi Umma Movement.

A joint statement said the new party will be headed by Aloussi, a former member of Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. He was expelled after visiting Israel last September.

The statement said the new party will be a liberal and reformist movement whose objective is to prevent sectarian and ethnic confrontations.

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050613-080537-1988r.htm

[merwin]

1. Don't you have to have, oh, say, a constitution or something before you

start electing long term candidates to the government? I mean, I don't want to get caught up in details or anything...

[komplex]

2. We better be praying...

for these guys, or else we are really f*cked.

[Barrett808]

3. But installing Allawi is basically Saddam-lite

Complete with the Mukhabharat intelligence apparatus. "Our bastard."

[thebigidea]

4. why would we pray for neocon puppets, stooges, and frauds?

[komplex]

9. What's our other options?

A theocracy? An Pan-Arabism Dictator? A Civil-War?

While it's fun to say "Ha Ha Bush Failed!" that failure is the deaths of innocent men, women and children. And a US pullout without a strong government will just lead to a bloodbath of Rwanda like proportions. All sides will be armed, financed, supported and hated.

A secular democracy would be the best thing to happen, but that could take 20-30 years to have it. But I'm willing to bet Iraqis would be willing to give up the right to vote if they didn't have to worry about kidnappings and car-bombs.

Success in Iraq will give us thousands of dead and smug neo-cons, failure will give us millions of dead and smug Liberals.

[Vladimir]

11. "A secular democracy would be the best thing"

Best for who? By whose standards? 25 odd years of killing and opressing Iraqis, either directly or through puppet governments, has left us with no authority whatever on this subject. We need to pull the troops out immediately, stick the command structure (political and military) on trial for war crimes, and start paying reparations to Iraq for all the damage we have done.

[komplex]

12. You've got to be kidding...

Sure, when the Kurds declared an independent state, Turkey invaded them and slaughtered a couple hundred thousand innocent Kurds, and of course the Sunni/Shiite civil war has claimed over a million dead, Don't worry that Clerics have taken power and introduced Shira law, executing the women every Friday. Because the important thing is we've impeached Bush and Chaney and now they are on trial in the Hague, so after you bury your children, you can celebrate with American Liberals!! Whooo-Hooo!! USA!! USA!! USA!!


What do you think will happen to the Iraqi men, women and children if we pack up and leave tomorrow? They are in a sh*tstorm that's not their fault. It's our fault, but if we leave now, it's going to turn into a clusterf*ck. The sad mathematics is there's a slim chance everything will turn out almost OK with a US occupation, but there's no f*cking chance that it will turn out almost OK if we aren't there. The UN ain't going to save the Iraqis, forget about the Arab League, Europe doesn't care (remember they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to stop the Genocide in Bosnia).

[Vladimir]

13. No, there is no chance whatsoever that

anything will turn out OK with a US occupation, because as long as we are occupying it will not be OK. The underlying tensions between Sunnis and Shias and Kurds, where they exist, exist precisely because of our legacy of imperialism and colonisalism in the region, and are being encourged by us in order to provide an excuse for continuing the occupation. In that sense your earlier comparison with Rwanda has a certain amount of relevance - the reason for ethnic tensions and genocide in Rwanda was that during the colonial era these tensions were promoted as a means of controlling the population. In Iraq, this sort of sectarianism was promoted in part by our backing of Saddam in the Iraq-Iran war, and now by these so-called elections. Of course Saddam also used sectarianism, particularly with regards to the Kurds, for his own political ends too. Power sharing on ethnic or religious lines almost never works, because it entrenches divides that need to be surmounted. And yet despite all this, the Iraqi freedom fighters are remarkably united on one thing:



75% of all attacks are against the coalition forces. This is the problem for the occupation, that despite all provocations, Iraqi resistance fighters are still generally more interested in attacking the occupying forces rather than each other. But we are doing our damnedest to change this, and if we succeed there may well be a civli war. And boy would that be a convinient excuse to remain in Iraq, permanent bases in tow, or what? See, its not just that I want US forces out of there. I oppose any foreign force in Iraq whatever. And I don't think there would be much of an Iraqi civil war if our withdrawal was coupled to reparations, because the Iraqis would suddenly find that they had a country to rebuild, and money to do it with. There would be no incentive to fight, and no incentive for Iran or Turkey to intefere either - Iran has plenty of problems at home, and Turkey wants to join the EU pretty badly. But the ensuing democratic independant Iraq would do our imperial ambitions no good whatsoever, so it ain't gonna be allowwed to happen.

[mbperrin]

5. Heck, all Allawi has to do is pull out his pistol and shoot a few more

people in the head! Secular enough for ya?

[Igel]

6. Good for him.

Most people seem to want him out of politics. This seems to be the way to do it.

I wonder if he'll go out with a bang?

[Chauga]

7. Meanwhile, the GOP seeks to establish a religious front for US gov't

[Roland99]

14. Yeah...ain't that a pisser?

Allawi is a puppet. He wouldn't be good for Iraq.

Iraq needs IRAQIS running the gov't, not people who've been living in London, Amman, U.S., etc.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. No doubt Allawi will "win"

Hint hint wink wink.

And the Shia will rise up from Basra to Najaf to Nasiriyah.

Could the Bush administration further miscalculate?

Do we even need ask?

[saigon68]

10. The CIA's hand picked man to rule the Vassal State

Our Quisling in Iraq-Nam.