Was This Iraqi Election Just A Cooked-Up Bush Ploy To Get Re-Elected?

[Mark E. Smith]

The results are not at all surprising. Given the opportunity the Iraqis have empowered a fundamentalist theocracy very much in line with their spiritual allies in Iran, complete with the guidnace and blessings of a Grand Ayatollah.

That the media hasn't covered this development for what it was, an electoral uprising by Iraq's Shi'ite pro-Iran majority against the both the U.S. and Western influence in general, is hardly surprising. What is surprising is that the Bush administration gave no indication that they knew this was at least a possibility. As devastating a result as what we are seeing now with the Iraqi vote count should have at least been discussed as something that might happen.

There is one explanation, however. In the 2004 US election the Iraq War was, of course, a huge issue. Casualties were increasing every month, and many were beginning to question what it was we were doing there. Bush needed to sieze upon a bold initiative in order to once again control the debate on this issue.

My question is this: Did the Bush administration cook up the Iraqi election for reasons of domestic political expediancy? In my opinion they certainly must have had a pretty good idea that the victor there could be Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, and that such a development would be devastating for our interests in the region while strengthening those of our decades old foe Iran.

Did Bush sacrifice American interests by cooking up an Iraq election in order to improve his own political fortunes in 2004?

[Chico Man]

1. "As devastating a result as what we are seeing now "

Why is the Iraqi election a devastating result? That's democracy, right?

[Mark E. Smith]

6. Iraq Falling Under An Iranian Suzerainty...

...is a very good possibility as a result of this election. Avoiding such a thing has been a goal of U.S. foreign policy for decades. Bush turned all of that on its head and gave Iran the chance to bring Iraq's Shi'ite population under their control, something Tehran has wanted since the fall of the Shah.

Ronald Reagan must be rollling in his grave.

[RoBear]

2. Absolutely!

Everything they do is aimed at being in power. They have no concern for us poor common critters--it's the "I've got mine, screw you" attitude that someone else mentioned this morning (and for which we can thank Ronald Ray-gun and the repugnicants).

[Vinca]

3. Gee, wouldn't that be a shocker?

And all of a sudden the fundamentalists have realized he's not really going after Roe vs. Wade, the red state farmers have realized he's cutting money in the budget earmarked for them, police departments - our first line of defense in the war on terror - are losing money, and on, and on, and on. He would've guaranteed to have all our houses painted on the government if it would have bought him some votes. As for the Iraqi election, I think the whole Iraq war might have been an election ploy. Prior to his first day in office he was gunning for Iraq and from Rove's perspective that was a good thing because war presidents usually win a second term.

[stray cat]

4. The timing is wrong. 9-11 appears to have been the key event.

For the first time, I do wonder if there was administration involvement in that event.

[Strelnikov_]

5. I Agree. It Delayed The Inevitable Clash With The Shi’ite Clerics

until after the US election. Our Leader wanted nothing to do with these elections initially. But faced with both a Sunni and Shi’ite uprising beginning in March, Our Leader bought off the Shi’ite clerics by acquiescing to their demands for election.

That leads to the question, why didn’t Our Leader just call off the election on some phony pretense after reselection? The two answers I come up with are quite unsettling since they indicate that Our Leader may, for the first time, be is losing his grasp of the situation:

- The Sunni uprising is holding it’s own against Our Leader’s legions, thus the Shi’ite must continue to be placated.
- Our Leader and his counselors really thought that their hand-picked Quisling, Allawi, would garner enough of the votes to keep him in a position of power to continue in Our Leader’s service.

Either way, the longer Our Leader’s legions remain in Iraqnam, the closer they come to open conflict with the greater Shi’ite community.