Reply #11: If I was a Black Ops Guy

[alcibiades_mystery]

If I was a black ops guy, and knew that Chalabi and/or Allawi couldn't win outright, I'd engineer evidence that the actual winners (the Shiite religious coalition) actually cheated, then foment rebellion among the Chalabi supporters behind that evidence.

Put another way, you want Chalabi to win, but you know there's no chance of that. You don't wanbt the religious Shiites to win, but you know they will win easily. Do you rig the election such that Chalabi would win? No, that would be too transparent. You rig the election such that the religious Shiites win by too much, thus delegitimizing their win (since they would have won legitimately anyway). Now, the actual Chalabi people have a "real" beef, and the Sunni feel like they can throw in with the secular Shiites against the religious Shiites. Then you start organizing the protest and delegitimizing the religious Shiites. That's how I would do it if I were a black ops guy.