von_Moo142
10-12-2004, 11:08 AM
Salam Pax, the "Baghdad blogger" speaks out on the need for fair elections in Iraq:
It's very worrying, when you hear someone like Donald Rumsfeld saying that maybe we can't have elections all over the country, possibly excluding the Sunni triangle and other troublesome areas in Baghdad.
Sorry, that's not the way to do it, it will not be credible again, it will have the same problems the governing council and interim government had, it will look like another American puppet.
If you're going to have elections, have them properly. Anything else looks like an exit strategy and that is just unacceptable.
I think he's right, although I wouldn't like to be the poor sod guarding polling stations in some of the nastier parts of the country.
I'm not sure what Rumsfeld was thinking of. Although it will obviously be politically damaging if Iraq elects representitives with a less than enthusiastic attitude towards the US (which, let's face it, is likely in places where there has been heavy fighting), I can't see how it will be good for anyone if the elections are restricted.
Anyway, what do people think about this?
Full article found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/3733104.stm
It's very worrying, when you hear someone like Donald Rumsfeld saying that maybe we can't have elections all over the country, possibly excluding the Sunni triangle and other troublesome areas in Baghdad.
Sorry, that's not the way to do it, it will not be credible again, it will have the same problems the governing council and interim government had, it will look like another American puppet.
If you're going to have elections, have them properly. Anything else looks like an exit strategy and that is just unacceptable.
I think he's right, although I wouldn't like to be the poor sod guarding polling stations in some of the nastier parts of the country.
I'm not sure what Rumsfeld was thinking of. Although it will obviously be politically damaging if Iraq elects representitives with a less than enthusiastic attitude towards the US (which, let's face it, is likely in places where there has been heavy fighting), I can't see how it will be good for anyone if the elections are restricted.
Anyway, what do people think about this?
Full article found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/3733104.stm