In Iraq, Snags on Transfer of Power

[leftchick]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2003/12/22/in_iraq_snags_on_transfer_of_power/

<snip>Last week, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose insistence on popular elections was rejected by the Americans, indicated his willingness to consider the administration's plan to choose delegates by regional caucus, but only if the UN played a role in overseeing the process.

Sistani's challenge led to a flurry of diplomatic activity, culminating in a request on Thursday by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for more clarity on the nature and extent of the role it might be asked to play in the selection process.

State Department spokesman Greg Sullivan told the Globe the administration was open to the idea of greater UN involvement prior to the transition. Still, past negotiations between the UN and the Bush administration suggest that any resolution could be difficult.

And with a grand ayatollah calling for universal suffrage, "the United States is in a strange position, where Sistani is on the side of democracy and the United States is not," said Marina Ottaway of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which has studied democracy and the rule of law.

[damnraddem]

1. It's not that the U.S. is against democracy.

It's that the Bushistas ARE against democracy -- whether in Iraq, or in the U.S.

[oldcoot]

2. But Smirk promised!

He told us in numerous speeches that he planned to liberate Iraq and bring democracy to the Iraqi people. You mean that he lied to us again? Whatever happened to honor and integrity?

[Gin]

3. the strategy always works...use their words against them....we can do

that here too...they certainly have mastered the art of the game.

[leftchick]

4. No Islam in Iraq Constitution = Pipe Dream.....

from the article....

<The role of Islam in the new Iraq could be even thornier. Views vary among Iraqis, with Shi'ites more open to the participation of clerics in government than minority Sunnis.

It is hard to imagine the Bush administration giving its blessing to an Islamist Iraqi state. But Ottaway pointed out that it did just that in Afghanistan.

"There is not a single constitution in the Arab world that doesn't mention Islam," Ottaway said. To imagine that Iraq could be the first, she said, is "a pipe dream.">



..... More contradictions from the * regime, I can't possibly keep up!