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Iraqis Vote Florida Style
By Dr. Edward W. Miller
"Political
democracy É with all its threatening evils, supplies a training school for
making first-class men. It is life's gymnasium."
Walt Whitman 1819-1892
On March 20th, tens of thousands around the world marched to protest Washington's continuing occupation in Iraq. In Chicago hundreds of extra police were called out to manage the crowds and even
in Tasmania protesters filled the streets of
their capital.
Americans have noted that over the past two years the rational for the
invasion of Iraq has been altered more than once.
Bush, repeating the lies of his neocon pals Leith, Perle, Wolfowitz, and Carl Rove, first warned that
Saddam was an "imminent threat" not only to his neighbors, but even
to the continental United
States, some 6000
miles from Baghdad.
When few in the intelligent world and one of Iraq's immediate neighbors
bought into this story and after millions across the planet rallied in
the streets to protest the proposed US pre-emptive strike, Bush suddenly
discovered that Saddam was in possession of WMD, weapons that our teddy-bear
Blair warned might be readied for use "in as little as 45 minutes."
Then, after the US-British invasion of Iraq,
and after intensive search produced no WMD, Bush revealed that his real purpose
behind OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM had always been "to bring democracy to the
Iraqis and, eventually to all the Mideast..."
Today, almost two years since Bush in his infamous "Abraham Lincoln
Aircraft Carrier speech" ( May 1st 2003) announced the Iraqi campaign
"successfully completed," Saddam's people see little evidence of
either a western style democracy or the promised improvements in their physical
condition. Though our western media lauded the bravery of those Iraqis who
risked their lives to vote in the January 30th elections, a closer look
presents a far different picture.
As staff member of the INDEPENDENT, A.K. Gupta, reported: (Z- Magazine,
March 2005), "Elections were held in a country locked down under an
iron-fisted occupation with few Iraqis having any idea of who or what they were
voting for. Almost half of those surveyed thought they were voting for a
president rather than a national assembly and provisional legislatures É except
for the Kurds, most Iraqi voters saw their ballot as a vote against the US
occupation, adding there was growing evidence that many Iraqis "may have
been coerced to the polls by threats to cut off their food allowancesÉ Iraqi
officials Édeclared the election motto: "vote or starve."
Gupta noted that Kurds, 90% of whom are Sunni, turned out "in
droves," and the 60% Shiite population as well, but that a large number of
Shiites plus Sunnis did not vote ...adding that Washington's choice, "Allawi,
didn't, seem to be hurt by his underlings handing out $100 dollar bills to
Iraqi journalists attending his press conferences." The New York Times
reported that all four candidates competing for prime minister were Iraqi
exiles.
But there was more to the election than coercion by overt threats of
starvation. As Scott Ritter, former Iraqi weapons inspector, and presently
columnist for Al Jazeera reported (Newsmax.com 9 March 2005) "January's
historic electionÉ was fixed Éas the election results were changed using a
"secret recount" held three days after the vote." Ritter
explained that with Shiites getting 60% of the vote, their party would control
the National Assembly without having to form a coalition. Accordingly,
"suddenly there's a government-ordered lockdown of the votes, while there
is a secret recount-not a public recount-where American troops were escorting
ballot boxes into undisclosed locations to be recounted by (interim Prime
Minister) Alllawi's government."
Ritter noted: "The secret recount dramatically changed the political
landscape, with the Shia vote dropping to 48% and Allawi's government picking
up nearly 10 points of support."
"You don't want to cook it so that no one will believe it ÉYou cook it
so that the Shia cannot have a majority in the National Assembly, so that there
will not be a democratically-elected theocracy."
Iyad Allawi, Iraq's prime minister, a Shiite, whose position in the new
Iraqi government is uncertain, has been generally recognized by the Iraqi
people as a puppet for both the US and Britain. Columnist Fred Lingel in his
article ( American Free Press 5 July, 2004)
points out that this 59 year old physician (neurologist) "is credited,
like his disgraced relative, Ahmed Chalabu, with providing the United States with bogus information about
weapons of mass destruction.
Lingel points out: "Allawi was not the UN's preferred choice," but
that Iraq's UN envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, "had to accept him after the
US-appointed Governing Council came under pressure from Ambassador Robert
Blackwell, Condoleezza Rice's man in Baghdad, and CPA leader, Paul
Bremer."
In 1971 Allawi went to London to
complete his medical studies, and was accused by some of "spying for the
Iraqi secret police." He broke with the Baath Party for reasons unknown
and assassins were sent to London to kill
him. "He was beaten with knives and axes and spent a year in the hospital
recuperating." "Allawi set up his own dissident organization, The
Iraqi National Accord, and built close ties with the British Foreign
Intelligence Service, M16. In 1992 Allawi transferred his allegiance to the
CIA and got funding from themÉ As a member of Iraq's Governing Council Allawi had the task of building a new
secret police force."
Thus Bush who preaches "democracy" has been employing the same
crooked tactics in Iraq that gave our President a majority
in the Florida election.