- Ever since Bush was unable to unearth a single weapon
of mass destruction in Iraq, he has shifted propaganda gears and talked
more about how U.S. troops are installing democracy in Iraq.
-
- But the truth of the matter is, Bush doesn't want any
old democracy in Iraq.
-
- He only wants a so-called democracy if he can pick the
head of the new government .
-
- That's why he's resisting the call from Iraq's leading
Shiite cleric to hold popular elections in June.
-
- The Bush Administration fears that a direct election
would bring a Shiite to power whom Washington might not be able to push
around. That leader could align with Iran, or renationalize industries,
or order the U.S. troops out. And Bush wants none of that.
-
- So he ordered Bremer to construct an elaborate process
of picking electors around the country, a process the U.S. would control.
-
- Bush's first excuse was that there isn't a decent census
yet of Iraq's voting population, and there couldn't be one anytime soon.
When people pointed out that the U.N. had such a census for the distribution
of food rations, the Bush Administration pooh-poohed that.
-
- Then it turned out that the Iraqi Ministry of Planning
actually drew up a plan for a thorough census that could be completed by
September 1, but somehow that plan was not distributed to all the members
of the Iraqi Governing Council, as The New York Times reported on December
4. The U.S. pooh-poohed this plan, too.
-
- Listen to the rationale from Charles Heatley, spokesman
for the U.S. occupation: "Rushing into a census in this time frame
with the security environment that we have would not give the result that
people want," he told the Times.
-
- Which people is he referring to? Bush and Bremer?
-
- Heatley added, "There is concern not to rush the
process."
-
- Or as Noah Feldman, a former adviser to Bremer, said
in an article on November 29: "Simply put, if you move too fast, the
wrong people get elected."
-
- Ah, yes.
-
- We're for democracy.
-
- Just not yet.
-
- Not until we've rigged the outcome.
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- http://www.progressive.org/webex03/wx120403.html
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