Victory in the Mideast! Democracy established!

[WilliamPitt]

NYT: Election Seen as Setback for Iran’s President

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/world/middleeast/19irancnd.html?hp&ex=1166504400&en=e968ae0e0d9ff6cc&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Um...but doesn't this mean democracy was already established in Iran before we decided to blow stuff up in Iraq as a means of bringing democracy to the Mideast?

...I'm so confused...

(snip)

TEHRAN, Dec. 18 — Partial returns from Friday’s Iranian elections suggested today that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had experienced a major setback barely over a year after his own election.

The victory of a pragmatic politician, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, over a hard-line candidate associated with Mr. Ahmadinejad gave one strong indication that voters favored more moderate policies. Mr. Rafsanjani won almost twice as many votes as the hard-liner, Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, for a position in the 86-member Assembly of Experts. The Assembly has the power to replace the supreme religious leader.

Final results for the Assembly of Experts showed that more than 65 candidates close to Mr. Rafsanjani were elected. Mr. Rafsanjani lost out to Mr. Ahmadinejad in the 2005 election runoff for president. The voter turnout was over 60 percent — much higher than in previous years.

...more...

Golly, except for all those terribly confusing names - Akbar, Mahmoud, Mesbah, ya know, those Islamiscist names - this article sounds like it's describing a city council election in Sioux City. "Partial returns" and "votes" and "runoff" and "candidates."

So confused.

(not really, but still)

[neoblues]

1. Yeah, Seems like a real Democracy...

I'm certainly no expert, but it seems to me they're setup such that everything the Democracy (government) does is subject to the control and influence of their religious leaders, especially the "supreme" one. It's as though they just use the Democratic procedures to handle adminstering their government but it's "policies" are controlled from... above. If I recall right, their President, Ahmadinejad, can be booted by the supreme leader if he displeases the religious leadership.

[Gregorian]

2. George Bush DISRUPTED the Middle East

In every way. There is no excuse. It's time for international justice to perform it's duty.


Afghanistan might actually be better off. Just an on the surface appraisal, though. Otherwise, George Bush has disrupted the region.