Successful Election in Iraq!!

"Saleh Mutlaq, head of one of the two major Sunni lists, said he was resigned to the fact that the Sunnis would win far fewer seats than they wanted. Mutlaq accused the United Iraqi Alliance of sending Shiite militiamen to the polls to hover over voters and said imams at many Shiite mosques told the faithful "they would go to hell if they didn't vote for the UIA."

"I want to send a message to the [Bush] administration that this election is going to lead to disaster in Iraq," said Mutlaq, who added that he would boycott the parliament unless Sunnis or secular Shiites were awarded some of the most important ministries, such as interior and defense. "I want the Americans to review this election and cancel it."

With most of the vote counted in 11 provinces, Sunnis were ahead only in Salahuddin, while the Shiite bloc was leading by huge margins in seven provinces. For example, in the Maysan province, the United Iraqi Alliance had 86.6 percent of the vote, while Allawi's slate was the next closest with 4.3 percent."  Chicago Tribune

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Am I being sarcastic in the titling here?

Yes, I am.

Yesterday, I wrote that I hoped a formula had been found to foster a political coalition among the non-clerical factions in Iraq.  If there was such a plan, it has failed miserably. 

Across the country early returns show a tidal wave of support for the religiously dominated Shia political alliance.  They will have nearly a majority of seats in the parliament and will dominate the ministries.  Women's rights will suffer further erosion.  The Sunni Arabs will brood over their "grievances."  The war in the Sunni heartland will go on.

Yes!  Another triumph for democracy, yet another exemplar of the sacramental, beneficent and transformative effect of elections in a society in which group identity and ethno-religious rivalry are at the heart of things.

"One man, one vote, one time?"

Pat Lang

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512200266dec20,1,5137025.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL20Ak01.html

Comments

[J]

Colonel,

you said the operative word -- 'one time'.

[RJJ]

The Regimists' WMD is an amalgam of abstractions: hubris-ignorance-incompetence .

[alvord]

Now, on to Victory!!

I am being sarcastic too.

[Loyd]

I think the U.S. administration is learning a valuable lesson finally - that no matter how powerful they think they are, and despite the obvious efforts to influence the elections, outcomes in Iraq on a variety of fronts are totally out of the control of the United States government. Realities "on the ground" will almost always trump the imagined scenarios in the minds of those who depend on think tanks in Washington.

[sr]

Colonel, you have described the administration as suffering from a "massively delusive disconnect from reality." I have to agree. These statements were all made in the past week:
--- Secretary of State Rice: "But that does not cloud the fact that what happened in Iraq a few days ago is that the Iraqi people ... went out and voted 11 million strong for the first constitutional parliamentary democracy in the Arab world. That is going to make the United States of America safer ... we know, too, that when American values and American power are married, as they were after World War II, we know now that when you have democracies that are friends of the United States, we know that the possibilities for peace, for permanent peace, for truly stable peace, are enhanced. And that's what the removal of Saddam Hussein has made possible."
--- Sen. Carl Levin: "We've got to tell them [the Iraqis] they need to come together politically or we're going to have to reconsider our presence in Iraq. That's the club, that's the leverage which we must exercise."
--- Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld: "We can't lose the war over there. The only place you can lose it would be Washington, D.C."
This is all demonstrably untrue, unreasonable, or contrary to historical precedent. However, when real events catch up with the fantastic these people will revise history to suit, as they have in the past. A new set of "facts" will be manufactured and distributed. The public, through apathy or gullibility, will follow along.
I appreciate your efforts to bring reason and sanity to the situation. What actions can we, as individuals without your expertise and standing, take to help avert further disaster?