a piece I had worked on just after the elections on January 30th,and never really finished it. Now the results are in. Sistani's United Iraqi Alliance won big. What does that mean? could be the place to take it.
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Iraqi Elections: Another “Mission Accomplished?”
On May 1st 2004, George Bush addressed a crowd of military personal on an aircraft carrier in front of a large banner that read “mission accomplished.” This moment of pomp and circumstance celebrated the end of the invasion stage of the war and marked the beginning of U.S. military occupation of all of Iraq. Occuring amid such decadent military regalia and on such a famous date, it was strangely reminiscent of Soviet Mayday celebrations. And as the following months became a downward spiral of violence, instability, and torture scandals, the “mission accomplished” statement seemed strangely premature.
On January 30th of this year Iraqis celebrated their first nationwide vote in 50 years, which , despite the processes many flaws, is an important moment in the rebuilding of a decimated Iraq. This important election was celebrated in the media and by supporters of the war as another sign of victory, though with less pomp and circumstance than the MAYDAY 2003 celebration.
Indeed, this election does not mark the end of Iraqi instability, nor does it vindicate the initial invasion and subsequent occupation in which some 100,000 Iraqis are estimated to have been killed. In fact, in many ways it was a victory for an Iraqi movement that was non-violently struggling against the United States for control of its own country.
Ever since the beginning of the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq and the foundation of the Coalition Provisional Authority, many political analysts have complained at how undemocratic these institutions have been run. University of Michigan professor Juan Cole have argued that small local and regional government elections could have been set up in the summer of 2003 ensuring local participation in the political process and laying the foundation for a new national electorate.
Instead, the Anglo-American government of Iraq intervened to stop local elections that were being planned by Iraqis and filled most of these positions were filled by CPA appointees by undemocratic and nontransparent processes that led to some disasterous results. In one famous case, the appointed mayor of Najaf was an ex-Baathist officer who was removed from office (after weeks of protests by Najafis) for kidnapping and extortion.
The CPA had planned as late as Fall 2003 to make the new Iraqi constitution by appointing a constitutional commitee. It was a fatwa of Grand Ayatolah Sistani in Summer 2003 that demanded that elections be held as soon as possible, and in many ways the election that just passed was a great victory for him (though he could not vote because he was born in Iran). In fact, he had to keep pushing for a year and a half after several delays to see the elections come to pass, even though the country was more stable and less violent a year and a half ago.
Outline fragment
Iraqi people's frustration with iraqi exile appointess/leadership like Chalabi
One wonders if elections could have been held in 2003 using UN ration information (as was used in the January 2005 elections) to identify the electorate. If so, would Iraqis have spent 2004 discussing stategies for peaceful political organizing and platforms for political and economic development? Perhaps. Unforturnately the main topics of that era seemed to have been power outages, violence and the use of torture by American forces. How unfortunate.
It is also important to realize that these elections that have just taken place do not mark the end of the dangers for the Iraqi people. These elections were deeply flawed and a large portion (though certainly not a majority of the population) refused to take part as long as the US military remained the occupying power.
Outline Fragment
Comparison of headlines about Iraq vote to headlines about Vietnam elections in 1968.
Antonia Juhasz has done great research published in Left Turn about undemocratic mechanismsin Iraqi government put in place by American officials.
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