Was the Iraq Election a Sucess?
Only twenty some bombings reported. A quiet day? Are the media telling us the whole story? Were the reporters able to get to the story? Afterall the whole country was locked down. What has happened to us that we think that only twenty bombings is a good day?
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Going into it, I wondered how the US Military would be able to able to achieve what has eluded them for two years. Randi Rhodes theorized that this shows they could have done it all along. There are possible theories that might not be entirely tinfoil hat. Perhaps the desire to have the Iraqi military on point has compromised operations. But, I think Juan Cole has the right answer. The U.S. Military proved that they can produce a relative calm for a one day national holiday when all transportation is shut down. [Unless the lock down prevented reporting of a lot of incidents.] The question is, what happens when the demands of commerce require allowing greater freedom of movement? We are there to rebuild the economy right? Juan thinks the newly elected officials will all have to move to the Green Zone or they will be killed. I wonder how many inked fingers will be chopped off.
At the moment, the insurgents are only the Sunni. Presumably the Kurds think they have a reasonable deal with the new government. And al Sistani seems to think he negotiated a good deal for the Shia. Will this hold up? Is the U.S. presence any more than stage directing a civil war?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Ok. The election was a success. So bring the troops home already!
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- HUCTW and the Internet
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- Iraq War Veterans Tour
