[Bobboau]

Iraqi elections

t-4 hours

[pyro-manic]

I think we're waiting for the crappy turnout, the series of massive truck bombs/shootings, and the no-brainer result in favour of the American-endorsed candidate.....

Seriously though, I'm not at all confident in these elections. Most people will stay away for fear of high-explosive death, a large portion of Sunni (IIRC) Muslims are boycotting on the advice of some clerics, and the Iraqi equivalent of Hamad Karzai (sp?????) will inevitably win. It's not going to change anything. America will still be in "control", bombings and kidnappings will still occur, and the people won't see much difference...

[Tiara]

These elections are totally unfair. The inhabitants of Falluja for example haven't received a word on where or how to vote. hell, most of the 350,000 people are living in refugee camps and haven't been given food aid for the last months. nd this is but one of the regions where there are no places to vote, no information on how to vote. And 'conviniently', all these places are were the non-Shiites live.

Also, Falluja citizens have been shot by American soldiers there while sleeping in their beds. A documentary showed footage of a father with his wife and kid lying in bed, shot. There hasn't been a gunfight at all, they were simply executed. they also showed the rotting carcass of a 90-year old man who was shot. And some more. and another bit more.

And precision bombing? Nope, almost no house is still standing in one piece. The houses that are still standing have been ransacked by American troops and on mirrors they wrote "F*ck Iraq and everyone in it!" and similar stuff. Litterally.

Seriously, I can see why those people are angry. And quite frankly, they have every reason to be.

In short, this election is as biased as it can be.

[Rictor]

Madame Rictor will now predict the future:

Most Sunnis boycott the election. At best 40% of Shia turn out, the Kurds vote in reasonable numbers but only for their own party (or rather, list). The insurgency turns up the heat, the curfew does **** all to curb the violence. Major areas of resistance are not included in the vote, thus artificially boosting the pro-American average. Because of all this,  the elections can in no reasonable way be called legitimate.

al Sistani/Chalabi "win"  the election, democracy is celebrated. US troops are "asked to stay by the new sovereign Iraqi government, which without a doubt represents the wishes of the people." The insurgency continue, the troops stay. Nothing changes, except that all blame is shifted to the "new democratically chosen government" and the evil terrorists. Bush's apprival ratings soar.

The occupations changes from "one nation occupying another" to "one nation occupying another with the help and approval of a small number of local elites in the spirit of democracy and self-determination"

Ta-da I'm a clairvoyant.

[Grug]

Maybe it wasn't mentioned cause no one cares...

[Gank]

The names of the people on the lists you vote for havent even been published.

[Rictor]

Nice election round-up ever at Lenin's Tomb. Good read.

(Further) cynicism and disillusiontment lies ahead.

[deep_eyes]

Lets hope this wasnt all for nothing.

[Deepblue]

This hasn't been mentioned because this forum has a mostly liberal populace who would rather not talk about it. And about what Tiara said, wouldn't that "documentary" be considered bias too?

Point and case, politics are teh sux0rs.

[Ford Prefect]

This hasn't been mentioned because this forum has a mostly liberal populace who would rather not talk about it.

A little rash, don't you think?

[Nuke]

just checkin in, has anything blown up yet?

[Tiara]

Originally posted by Deepblue
And about what Tiara said, wouldn't that "documentary" be considered bias too?

I have no doubt that it is. All documentaries are biased. But seeing practically the wole city bombed flat kinda speaks for itself. And almost all citizens (350,000) living in refugee camps outside the city with barely any food and water also kinda speaks for itself.

[Rictor]

maybe its cause we're a bit more realistic and skeptical Deepblue. The belief that these elections are free and fair, or that they will bring about democracy is a bit naive.

First of all, you can't democracy with 150,000 foreign troops in your country which most of the population would like to see dead. That one fact makes the excercise of democracy nearly impossible. Secdonly, the election system is convoluted and unclear, not to mention being in favour of the established authorities. Then you have the fact that certain parts of the country will not be allowed to vote, which sort of ruins the intended effect of elections. Furthermore, none of the large parties are running on an explicitly anti-occupation platform, which doesn't seem to represent popular sentiment in Iraq. And then there's the low expected turnout, not nearly enough to validate the coming government...

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

[Rictor]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4220551.stm

well surprise surprise

[Unknown Target]

Originally posted by Deepblue
This hasn't been mentioned because this forum has a mostly liberal populace who would rather not talk about it.  

Correction: Radical liberals.

[vyper]

Alright WTF?

They didn't even fight like this in friggin Iraq¬

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4220437.stm

[Deepblue]

Surprise surprise pessimists, high turnout even among violence (not much at that, this surprised me).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6874656/?GT1=6065

[vyper]

I'm impressed. However, the argument has mostly been that the future government will be a US puppet.

[.::Tin Can::.]

Everyone keep telling yourself that. If you try hard enough, you might believe you are right.

[Rictor]

The only surprise has been the relatively low number of attacks, though that was hardly in US hands, now was it?

They asid 72% turn out, revised down to 60%, probably going to be revised down to 50% or lower in the end. Even the 60% figure is based only on a single elections official.

Just have to learn to distinguish between reality and jubilant White House press releases. Just becuase they say the elctions were fair, doesn't make it so. In fact, the reality is that they were anything but, regardless of who wins. All of the arguements put forward by Tiara, Gank, vyper, myself et. al. still stand.

But go ahead, have your fun. No one's buying it, but have your celebration anyway.