Ron Washington Wisdom
Iraqi Election
Posted by TFG on December 16th, 2005
Iraq Authorities Tally Millions of Ballots
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Final results in Iraq’s parliamentary election may not be known for two weeks, but early indications show the Shiite tickets doing well in traditional Shiite strongholds, election officials said Friday.
In Mosul, capital of the predominantly Sunni Arab province of Nineveh, indications were that the Sunni coalition came in first, said a representative for the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, Hameed Shabaky.
He said the Shiite governing party apparently came in fourth behind the Sunni coalition, the Kurds and a bloc led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite.
Turnout in what was a mostly peaceful election was overwhelming. Election officials estimated up to 11 million of the nation’s 15 million registered voters took part in Thursday’s vote, which would put overall turnout at more than 70 percent.
Every American should be thrilled beyond belief that this election is happening. An absolutely hellish tyrant* has been deposed, and democracy is gaining a serious foothold where it was once judged to be impossible. That democracy will be a beacon to the other peoples in that misbegotten part of the world. And that, my friends, is an enormous victory in the global war on terror.
Oh, yeah…that. Ring a bell?
* And of all possible outcomes, he’s on trial, wearing a suit, in a court, with lawyers and judges. He should still be swinging from a lamp post. Cooler heads than mine prevailed, of course, and word of his savageries will be spread far and wide. That is to say, spread far and wide if our pothead friends from j-school can be bothered, which I doubt with about as much doubt as it is possible to doubt and still leave a crack open for possibility.
9 Responses to “Iraqi Election”
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On the ride into work, the NPR folks are still having a lot of trouble accepting this as a good thing. Apparently we have yet to acheive perfection. Clearly Bush has failed.
I don’t doubt it, and that’s why NPR is, like, button #6 on the second FM settings in the truck. Purely last-gasp nothing-else-on the-iPod-is-out-of-battery-power for me.
as a rabid NPR fan I have to question the thinking behind Charles statement about Bush having “failed”, I never here such one-sided Arguments, with NPR you usually get about 3-4 different sides to a story,unlike some so -called “fair and balanced” news?-cast’s that are basically a cheerleader for far right propaganda, and yes I do think this is a great moment for the Iraqi people ,unfortunately the bombs are still going off and people are still dying, purple fingers against a backdrop of insurgents bombs does make for some vivid imagery though. Good luck to them they are going to need it!
And another thing ,this “war on terror ” can never be won, now here me out, Arabs and Jews have been fighting for hundreds of years and it hasen’t stopped , so why does anybody think that by declaration we can “Win the war on terror”,can’t be done , terrorists are like fire ants you kill one mound and three more pop-up, it might be possible to sort’a control them, but to eradicate them , aint no way, these fanatics are brought up to hate the infidels and Saudi Arabia helps finance this with our oil dollars, it is a vicious cycle and anyone that thinks otherwise is an unrealistic dreamer!
Good Christ.
Spike, if you think NPR is an unbiased news organization, then I can see why you think there is no way to stop terrorism. But do tell — I must have missed the reports of the Jews piloting airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, blowing up truck bombs outside of US military barracks and embassies around the globe, attacking Navy ships in port with suicide boats, and dynamiting tourists at Balinese discos.
Oh, hell. Never mind.
You know that NPR got a new HMFIC about a year ago who happens to be quite conservative, cant think of the guys name off the top of my head,but it was in response to people in power saying that Bill Moyers show on PBS didnt show things very flattering about Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and the other mastermind craftsman of the war in Iraq. The pbs documentaries from “Frontline” certainly give you a glimpse into politics and the way things really go down and they do so in a no-holds barred fashion,warts and all, they showed a younger General Colin Powell during the Invasion of Kuwait saying what a terrible mistake it would be to invade Iraq to topple saddam, he said it would be a catastrophe and that we would be over there for years if not decades.Funny now looking back isn’t it .Dont you know that Fox news wishes they had those tapes so they could destroy them. But alas we ARE there so all we can do is make the best out of a effed up deal. And yes I do realize the people whop hate us are Muslim not Jewish,My Granddad used to say about snakes,’You need to turn that into a “good” snake’, maybe thats what we need to do to Muslims. Oh I cant say that I watch PBS.
Ha ha ha… on from NPR being unbiased to Moyers and PBS presenting reality?
Gawd, Scott, did you get drunk and make these comments yourself to entertain us?
Anyway, moving on from PBS and NPR — folks who want an interesting, less silly glimpse into the Bush war cabinet might still want to pick up James Mann’s book, The Rise of the Vulcans. It’s a pretty good read.
Incidentally, the Houston Chronicle thought the news on Iraq’s elections was so important that they dropped it on Page 23.
That makes NPR and PBS look good!
I’ll make a special stop to grab Mann’s book on the way to the airport today.
And, no, I don’t have the chops to make up that kind of talk.