In policy reversal, US signals possible acceptance of theocracy in Iraq

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States signaled its readiness to put up with an Islamic theocracy in future sovereign Iraq (news - web sites), with Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) saying the US administration "will have to accept" any government created as a result of free and fair elections there.


The remark, made in an interview with NBC television, marked a policy reversal for the administration of President George W. Bush (news - web sites), which up to now had vowed to fight tooth and nail any attempt by Iraqi Shiite leaders to follow in the footsteps of their brethren in Iran.


The policy of resisting future Islamic rule in Iraq has been repeatedly spelled out by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who stated publicly a year ago that "a vocal minority clamoring to transform Iraq in Iran's image will not be permitted to do so."


US occupation authorities have also resisted attempts by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other leading Shiite clerics to insert clauses in Iraq's provisional constitution that would have established Islam as the philosophical foundation of future legislative activities.

~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1511&ncid=1511&e=1&u=/afp/20040516/wl_afp/us_iraq_iran_religion_040516113506

[DrBB]

1. Shorter Colin Powell/Bush admin on Iraq

"Just get me outta here!!!!!"

[LittleApple81]

2. They want to get rid of the tar baby... the sooner the better. Jerks. n/t

[rooboy]

3. General Boykin - meet General Powell. n/t

[FloridaPat]

4. They're going to say anything before the election. With all

those troops staying there for 10 years, they can take back the fake government any time they want. Just more lies.

[ithacan]

5. hey, if it's good enough for the US,

it's good enough for Iraq~!

http://www.TheocracyWatch.org/


They are really getting desperate now! I'm pretty sure though that the damage that has been done is irreversible. The only hope they have is for another "terrorist attack" but even that may backfire on them.

[asjr]

6. What a total waste! A waste of

over 700 military lives, thousands of Iraqi civilian lives and humanitarian lives. All because a cabal of American despots wanted to invade a country that did not pose an immediate threat to America. All because of lies and imperialistic ambitions. A "free" Iraq will ultimately be an Islamic nation, but that is their choice. No one is better off now than before, and that goes for everybody. Impeachment should be the order of the day here in the U.S.

[skooooo]

21. A free Iraq is NOT "ultimately an Islamic nation"!!

Iraqis are probably the most secular population in the Middle East -- along with Libya, and I'm sure a few others.

They won't choose such a government, although, one may be forced on them now that we have screwed things up so badly.

[Lorien]

23. Not to mention billions of our $$$

In the new "free" Iraq, I doubt 50% of the people-Iraq's women- will be "better off".

[JohnOneillsMemory]

25. Many poor Americans will die because of the domestic budget crisis. n/t

[mulethree]

29. 200Bln = lifetime earnings of over 115,000 Americans

= 2.38 Million 4 year private college scholarships with room+board
= 8 Million job retraining programs - 1 year with living expenses
= 840 years of funding for Fusion Energy development at current levels
= 1175 years of funding for DOE programs to improve car fuel economy
= 5,000 major investigations (e.g. Enron, Whitewater, Iran/contra)

[Aidoneus]

7. I FINALLY 'GET' WHAT THEIR POLICY IS!

It may seem strange, to go back and forth on so many subjects. Baathists bad, BAD!!--ah, nevermind, they can work for us.. SADDAM BAD, BAD!--fuck it, lets act like him.. SHIA GOOD!--oh fuck them, they have to die.. THEOCRACY BAD!--well, maybe it's ok..

These are NOT merely the fickle hypocrisies of a desperate gang of failing colonialists. The plan to defeat Iraq is to ensure that everybody under occupation suffers from serious cases of whiplash. They will be easier to rule over that way.

[U2Shark]

8. We'll "put up" with it all right

For about 50 or 60 years until we decide to overthrow them again. That land is on the Bush family shit-list. George's unborn grandson has probably already set his eyes upon it.

[pretzel4gore]

20. i cannot imagine bushinc, or their pathetic spawn

getting out of this intact. it's treason, plain and simple. poor old usa, has no choice now but to DEFEND ITSELF!
sheese!
i read alot of history books (tho i remember reading how napoleon lost battle of waterloo cuz his 'roids acting up!) and know the official story tries to ennoble the goings on in corridors of power while the reality is that a bunch of murdering thieves whimpering and screaming at each other to 'do something!' bwaaa...

the banality of evil... listen to rush limbaugh-humbug

[Mountainman]

9. Can we lable this a flip flop?

[maddezmom]

10. notice repubs never flip-flop or waffle

they just have "policy reversals"....:eyes:

[pretzel4gore]

22. mid course corrections

LOL!
like a rocket missing the moon...haha..'potus, let me steer dammit!' rotfl!

[Just Me]

11. I have to agree with Powell's statement:

",...the US administration "will have to accept" any government created as a result of free and fair elections there."

Iraq belongs to the Iraqi people who should have the freedom to choose their own form of governance.

[maddezmom]

12. agree with Powell on this, too..but how long before the misadministration

clarifies the statement?

[Just Me]

18. I still do not believe his statement reflects the intentions of Bush,...

,...and his neocon regime. I believe they are running around putting out fires, trying to save their political careers.

I don't doubt for one moment that, if this administration serves a second term,...all hell will truly break loose and they will bring their own country down.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Any bets on how long it will be before we'll have to go back into Iraq?

We never learn.

[FloridaPat]

14. Iraq will get a puppet government just like Afghanistan.

The people wanted to run the former king to try and unite the country. Bushco said no. The puppet got elected. They will try the same thing in Iraq. Don't forget - this is all show until after the elections. This is not real. This is not really happening. It will disappear after the elections.

[nodictators]

16. Meet the newly-elected Prime Minister of the New Iraq

C'mon Down Howdy Doody

[Snoggera]

15. Remember

What this group says it will do, and what it actually does, are never the same. If they say it is acceptable, then you can bet your grandma's life savings that they are working under the radar to ensure it will never happen.

[OKNancy]

17. Yet again it will be the women who suffer the most

not that the USofA cares or even some here. It pisses me off, because I was saying this over a year ago. There will be a fundy government and women will be relegated to a role similar to that in Afghanistan.

[warrior1]

19. stupid, stupid people

This must be the nail in bush's coffin.

No democracy in Iraq.

He now has completly failed, but he's taken us with him in his shit hole.

A ruined economy, and the entire world hates us.

Thanks Gov. Bush. you smuck.

[liveoaktx]

24. Kerry said something like this a while back? Guess * is catching up

to the GOOD stuff.

[BattyDem]

26. In January 2004 ...

"Women for Iraq" wrote a letter to Bremer expressing their concerns about the threats from extremists wanting to establish Islamic rule in Iraq. As usual, when it comes to women, the Bush* Administration says f*ck you! :grr:

http://www.womenforiraq.org/

Letter to Bremer: http://www.womenforiraq.org/bremer_letter.pdf

[Nay]

27. Well, hell, why not? They love the theocracy they're building here.

Bastards.

[struggle4progress]

28. The Administration works like this ....

different people say different things. Powell has made statements that flatly conflict what others have said: "We'll leave if they want" or "They can have a theocracy if they want."

None of it means diddly. It's dangerous in the current political climate because it makes Americans have to choose what they're going to believe, out of the hodge-podge, and people may simply grab onto whatever makes them feel best out of the mish-mash: this is a political strategy for forming a political coalition out of a variety of conflicting views, and it may work unless ordinary people begin to notice the incoherent intellectual chaos.

[daleo]

30. Bushco will say anything to get through the next few months

Then, if they can lie, cheat and steal their way into power again, none of it will mean a thing. There is no way there will be an Iraqi election before the U.S. election, so Powell can safely make any claim he wants to, about honoring Iraqi political choices. These claims are no more honest than Powell's U.N. presentation was.

You have to hand it to Powell, though. He has some people beginning to believe in him again.

[Tellurian]

31. Oh my, another mistake by the Bush Administration...what about the 700

lives lost fighting for your last policy decision..

The change in policy midstream should evoke outrage from dead soldiers families who have seen their sons and daughters needlessly expend their lives dying for Bush's policy dujour.

This war is founded on fraud and cumulative fraud will just add more to the morass of the failed Bush presidency.