Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Upcoming Iraqi Elections in January
« Basketball Brawl | Main | Ukrainian Elections »At least 122 political organizations have registered to run in Iraq's Jan. 30elections, thrilling organizers but setting the stage for tough bargainingover the next eight days.
Many of the parties are expected to combine in loose coalitions as theyseek to maximize their seats in a new national assembly. Such alliancesmust be declared to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) by the endof this month.
Even so, voters will face a bewildering array of choices. There arereligious parties representing Shi'ite Muslim, Sunni Muslim andChristian voters; secular parties with religious affiliations orregional interests; parties organized around sheiks and clerics; andparties devoted simply to justice, democracy or equal rights."We have so many parties, so many people wanting to participate,"said Farid Ayar, a spokesman for the IEC. "It is wonderful. I amhappy."
This article paints a very different picture than what we are hearing fromthe MSM. The MSM wants us to believe that the Arab culture is not prone todemocracy, and that United States is becoming even more entrenched in anIraqi "quagmire". The MSM points to the growing insurgency in Iraq as proofof their reasoning. In reality we see from Belmont Club'sTriangle of Death 2 article is that the insurgents have their supplies andcommunication lines destroyed by the loss of Fallujah and are becoming evenmore marginalized than ever.
Regardless of the standing of the insurgency, the MSM should be reportingthe overwhelming embrace of democracy by the majority of the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people have 122 political organizations already formed. Thatis an incredible number. All of these groups are trying to form loosecoalitions to maximize their representation in the new government. The quotefrom Farid Ayar sums it up nicely: "We have so many parties, so manypeople wanting to participate. It is wonderful. I am happy".
Does this sound like a culture that can't embrace democracy? Does thissound like a people who do not understand the core tenets of democracy?The bottom line is that all people yearn to be free. As much asthe left has warned us of a "quagmire" in Iraq, I would think theywould be jumping up and down at this news. Shouldn't they be thrilledthat the Iraqi's are moving forward to govern themselves?
No, admitting success in Iraq would only show that Bush, the Republicans,and the red states, were right all along. This is the same mistake theleft made with Reagan and the Soviet Union. In the eighties they saidthe same things about the Soviet Union they are now saying about the MiddleEast. And as history has consistently shown, the power of freedom alwaysovercomes tyranny. And like the left did with Reagan, they will jump onthe bandwagon once Iraq becomes a success story. The left will claim(lie) they always supported the policies in Iraq. Once againhistory will repeat itself.
On a side note, this story provides one more illustration of theleft's failure to grasp the universal pull of freedom. Or maybe they doand just wish to ignore it. Why would they ignore it? Maybe because freedom hasa tendency to destroy there Utopian dreams of big brother government.
