bush and allawi have been telling the US public and the United Nations that the effort in Iraq is progressing. What does this look like in real life?
Well, in some areas of Iraq it may appear to be what they say. In others, it is something dramatically different. Since both the administration and the media fail to give us full disclosure of both the good and the bad a little visualization exercise might be helpful. To assist, Juan Cole has provided a script with some interesting transpositions:
What would America look like if it were in Iraq’s current situation? The population of the US is over 11 times that of Iraq, so a lot of statistics would have to be multiplied by that number.
Read it all. You might quibble with the different comparisons but it does help one visualize an environment that is not conducive to normal living.
An election and implementing some alleged version of democracy will fix all, right? Kevin Drum pretty well sums up what that means:That’s not much more than a mockery of democracy, but unfortunately I can’t really complain too loudly. Roughly speaking, it would be as if Democrats and Republicans agreed to team up and decide in advance who was going to win each district in elections for the House, thus preventing any real choice. Which, of course, is pretty much exactly how it works these days, with both sides collaborating in gerrymandering schemes designed primarily to protect each other’s incumbents.
In other words, Sistani is getting a democracy considered state-of-the-art by his occupiers. What more does he want?
Yes, Iraq will get democracy as envisioned by an administration that is watching the so called reagan victory over the evil empire implode with nary a whimper of opposition.
Is bush a little envious of putin……?