Seymour Hersh: Bush Authorized Covert Plan to Manipulate Iraqi Elections

[cyberpj]

Tuesday, July 19th, 2005
Seymour Hersh: Bush Authorized Covert Plan to Manipulate Iraqi Elections

Pulitzer prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reports that President Bush authorized covert plans last year to support the election campaigns of Iraqi candidates and political parties with close ties to the White House. Hersh cites unidentified former military and intelligence officials who said the administration went ahead with the plan over congressional opposition.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/19/1353243

Yesterday's post - w/link to New Yorker article:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4128099#4128456

[rateyes]

1. You know what they say...

do what you're best at!

[JPZenger]

2. Elections Were Delayed to Reduce Fundamentalists' Chances

It would have been in the best interests of the U.S. to hold elections in Iraq as soon as possible. That would have given the U.S occupation a little more legitimacy and hopefully reduced violence. However, the elections were delayed. I believe that was because the U.S. was afraid that if elections were held too early, that Muslim fundamentalists would win. They were the most organized, because there had not been independent political parties in Iraq.

[KansDem]

3. "You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!!!"

Let the Bushistas get away with this once in 2000 and it just emboldens them. If they were all thrown in the clink for this kind of malfeasance back then, then we wouldn't be worried about this now!


"You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!!!"

[Lautremont]

5. I'd never made the connection before,

but now that you have, I realize that Plan 9 from Outer Space is to the bush administration as Invasion of the Body Snatchers was to McCarthyism.

Side note: for years I believed that "The McCarthy Era" referred to Kevin McCarthy. I was just a kid, though.

[Poiuyt]

8. Didn't the guy get punched in the face right after he said that?

[KansDem]

9. If I recall correctly...

The studly one reared back with "I'm not going to take that!" or some such comeback, then an explosion on a table (one of the cutting-edge electrical components blew up) caused them both to be momentarily distracted. I'm not sure what happened after that, though.

[ewagner]

4. This needs more publicity

The pure evil of this administration is laid bare by this...

the more of this that gets into the public consciousness, the better...

[cyberpj]

7. Ah, but what to do...what to do... Media hasn't even told US THIS yet:

Iraq Signs Military Pact with Iran

Headlines : International
Iraq Signs Military Pact with Iran
Thu, 7 Jul 2005 22:11:20 -0700Summary:

Here’s an update: The “democratically elected” government of Iraq, much-ballyhooed by the Bush adminstration and its toadies, has signed an agreement of military cooperation with current Bush public enemy number one, Iran.

In other news, 100 “democratically elected” members of the Iraqi parliament have signed a petition demanding that the US withdraw its forces from Iraq immediately.


By Neil MacDonald in Baghdad and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Republished from Financial Times

Iraq signs a pact in Tehran agreeing to accept Iranian military training and other cooperation.

Former foes Iraq and Iran announced “a new chapter” in their relations on Thursday, including cross-border military co-operation, dismissing US concerns about Iranian regional meddling.

On his first official visit to Tehran, Iraqi minister of defence Saadoun al-Dulaimi asserted his country’s sovereign right to seek help from wherever it sees fit in rebuilding its defence capabilities.

“Nobody can dictate to Iraq its relations with other countries,” Mr Dulaimi said in a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Admiral Ali Shamkhani.

The two ministers said that a military co-operation agreement, now in the preparation, would include Iranian help with training and upgrading Iraq’s reconstituted armed forces, a process so far overseen by US and coalition advisers.

http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/3670/Iraq_Signs_Military_Pact_with_Iran

[welshTerrier2]

6. PNAC = DSM = Niger = WMD = Plame = Chalabi = Puppets

The Democratic Party needs to make the case to the American people that bush's intent from the day he first took office was to create a puppet state in Iraq that would bend to US corporate interests ... that's what American foreign policy has always been about: imperialism ... Democrats will never do that, of course ... i guess you have to be one of those real radical left-wing extremists to wish they would ...

all of these "iceberg tips" are part of the exact same iceberg ...

PNAC was the blueprint ...
DSM proved the WH accepted the blueprint ...
Niger was the fabricated evidence ...
WMD was more fabricated evidence ...
Plame and others in the CIA were squashed because they told the truth ...
Chalabi was appointed the Oil Minister to cater to US oil companies ...
bush tried to fix the elections for Alawi, a US puppet ...

and the only problem was that the gang who couldn't shoot straight ended up with Jafaari as the Prime Minister ... oops ...

US imperialism is immoral ... it's killing this country and will ultimately lead to generations of despair in the US ... real leadership, not politically expedient posturing, requires telling the American people the truth ... it's time to stop saying "we're stuck there" and start saying "we went their to exploit the Iraqi people and their resources" ... a Party with the guts to stand-up for the truth would eventually be swept into power because the American people would come to understand the courage they showed and the values they fight for ... but Democrats will not be doing this anytime soon ...

and so we suffer, we continue to organize, we continue to hope ...