Arabs Say Iraq Vote Gives Democracy a Bad Name (Reuters)

[truthpusher]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050128/wl_nm/iraq_election_arabs_dc_2

Arabs Say Iraq Vote Gives Democracy a Bad Name

Fri Jan 28, 8:52 AM ET World - Reuters

By Tom Perry

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) sees Sunday's election in Iraq (news - web sites) as a beacon for freedom in the Middle East, but Arab reformers say the poll will set back their cause.

Arab human rights activists say the Iraqi election is deeply flawed and will give democracy a bad name. They say violence and the prospect of a Sunni Arab boycott will undermine the poll. Many Arabs, already suspicious of U.S. intentions in Iraq, are also dismissing the vote's credibility because of the presence of the 150,000 U.S. troops there.

"The influence of the elections for us as democrats is disastrous," Syrian human rights activist Haytham Manna told Reuters from Paris. "When you marginalize wide sections of society from the political process ... this is not democracy."

"With this example, all the Arab extremists will say to us: 'You democrats, go to hell, because you haven't been able to solve our problems with your democracy and elections'," said Manna, who left Syria in 1978 as a political exile.

more:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050128/wl_nm/iraq_election_arabs_dc_2

[judy]

1. So, what's wrong with that (sarcasm) ?

We all know that Smirky and the Gang are not really interested in democracy.
We also know that they are interested in scaring the bejeezus out of the Amurkan people.

So what better outcome could there be?
Fake the election (Allawi wins)
Strengthen the Arab extremists

We're in business for decades now !!!

[twaddler01]

3. yay!

[Az_lefty]

2. Guess the Arab's get it.....

[w4rma]

4. I just hope they are taking this as a lesson of how NOT to run elections,

rather than "democracy is bad". Democracy works. People fight with words rather than guns (most of the times). You win by rallying armies of voters rather than armies.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Iraq "gives democracy a bad name

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5500630

CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush sees Sunday's election in Iraq as a beacon for freedom in the Middle East, but Arab reformers say the poll will set back their cause.

Arab human rights activists say the Iraqi election is deeply flawed and will give democracy a bad name. snip

Many Arabs think elections held under U.S. occupation can only produce a government similar to the U.S.-backed interim government, which they view as an American puppet.

DEMOCRATIC CHARADES

"The elections depict democracy as if it is connected to the idea of submission to the American occupier," said Abdel Halim Qandil, who is
campaigning against an extension of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's 23-year-old rule.

"The idea of democracy will lose its reputation in the Arab world entirely," Qandil said, comparing the Iraqi election with 20th-century polls held in Egypt under British occupation. "Democratic charades of this type were going on then," he said.

more

[katinmn]

6. I go on record as agreeing with the Arab human rights activists

if any one here gives a damn.

:hi:

[central scrutinizer]

7. sounds like a job for our new Sec'y of State

Time to use some of that tact and diplomacy she is so famous for.

<>

[agitpropagent9]

8. good luck iraq

i see a lot of people who are (rightly) cynical about iraq's chances in establishing a successful democracy, but i also see a lot of people who are rooting for its failure solely because they hope to discredit their political enemies.

i'm not naive enough to think that iraq's transition to a constitutional state is going to be perfect or miraculous. but i am a realist enough to know that, based on where we are right here and right now, the iraqi people deserve the chance to put their national life (and personal lives) back together - and hope for something better than either saddam's tyranny and america's war and occupation.

hoping for a disaster just to advance a political agenda strikes me as petty and mean-spirited, and if saying so makes me persona non grata around here, so be it.

feel free to fire up your flamethrowers.

[Niccolo_Macchiavelli]

9. hey you

hey *pssht* yes you... i've got nice claims in switzerland and austria with maritime access. very cheap. but there are many interesteds so you'll have to decide quickly. the house in switzerland at the shore to mare mediterrane for €13'000 the austrian claim to the adria is without house €3'500.

What you'd say?

/sarcasm off

[RockStar]

11. You need to stay off the Kool Aide. Or wake up from that Fanatasy World

you been in...Iraq Freedom Democracy is a bunch of crap. Those people will never be free. They were invaded, raped, killed, for what???

[NYC]

12. Hoping for failure implies the possibility of success.

I don't see how success is possible. Most people won't/can't/dare not vote, there are 7,000 candidates on the ballot, some of the parties are no longer identified by their usual names.

How could this election be a success?

[renaissanceguy]

10. It's the Repug style of democracy.

Repugs don't care about wide margins of a country. Look at our own.

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/472476

[indepat]

13. Hey, fair elections are essential for democracy