On Iraq election, a non US media view

[rumpel]

Iraq elections set stage for deeper crisis of US occupation regime

1 January 2005 - The election January 30 in Iraq marks a further intensification of the contradictions confronting American imperialism, both in Iraq and at home. It will neither resolve the crisis of the American stooge regime in Baghdad, hated and despised by the vast majority of the Iraqi people, nor legitimize the US occupation in the eyes of world and among large sections of the American public.

snip

According to Robert Fisk of the Independent, a major British daily newspaper, “The big television networks have been given a list of five polling stations where they will be ‘allowed’ to film. Close inspection of the list shows that four of the five are in Shiite Muslim areas—where the polling will probably be high—and one in an upmarket Sunni area, where it will be moderate.” Sunni working class areas were entirely off limits, he noted.

In some cases, the media reports were literally military propaganda handouts. ABC News, for instance, reported thousands of voters in Fallujah, the city virtually destroyed by the US military onslaught last November. The source for this report of surprisingly high turnout was the US military command in the shattered city. Meanwhile, other news outlets put the turnout in Fallujah as minuscule, on a par with the other predominantly Sunni cities where few polls opened and few voters turned out.

snip

According to Fisk, one of the few credible reporters working in the region, the incessant raids by US ground forces have been supplemented by a new air war: “American air strikes on Iraq have been increasing exponentially. There are no ‘embedded’ reporters on the giant American air base at Qatar or aboard the US carriers in the Gulf from which these ever increasing and ever more lethal sorties are being flown. They go unrecorded, unreported, part of the ‘fantasy’ war which is all too real to the victims but hidden from us journalists. The reality is that much of Iraq has become a free-fire zone (for reference, see under ‘Vietnam’) and the Americans are conducting this secret war as efficiently and as ruthlessly as they conducted their earlier bombing campaign against Iraq between 1991 and 2003, an air raid a day, or two raids, or three.”

snip

There is evidence of direct intimidation of Iraqis by the US military in the course of election day. American soldiers were reported going through the city of Mosul, largely Sunni-populated and a center of insurgent resistance, and seeking out Iraqi non-voters, who could easily be identified by the absence of a semi-permanent ink stain on the thumb. Any Iraqi without such proof of voting was subjected to questioning as to why he had not voted—and no doubt, had his name entered on US intelligence lists of suspected supporters of the resistance, targeted for future arrest or attack.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m9344&l=i&size=1&hd=0

on edit:

intended to post elesewhere, therefore changed title

[RaulVB]

1. Moreover,

CBS repeated lies told to them by the US military.

They claimed that the turnout was 72%, then they declared that "officials were guessing"!!!

[rumpel]

3. Yup! Here is one that says it is closer to 40-45%

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=974

Initial Breakdown of Iraq’s First Exercise in Democracy

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis


January 31, 2005, 1:15 AM (GMT+02:00)
snip

The truth is that there was not much of either in this remarkable election.


DEBKAfile’s Iraq experts reveal that, while the turnout is officially estimated at 60%, the real figure will probably turn out to be quite a bit lower, no more than 40-45% - in itself an exceptional feat. The other surprising manifestation was the high proportion of Iraqi women voters – appraised at more than 55% of the total. This was most marked in the Shiite districts of the south, where local clerics ordered everyone to vote, but the men stayed at home and sent their womenfolk to perform their democratic duty.


The Shiite turnout was disappointing in other ways too. Long queues and 80% percentage of eligible voters appeared only in the two shrine cities of Najef and Karbala. Further south in the densely populated Diwanya, Mussana, Qadasiya and Amara, the proportion did not go beyond 40%. In Basra, Iraq’s second largest town, the turnout was 32-35%, although Iraqi election officials claimed 90%.


Our experts characterize Shiite voting activity as “lots of hustle and bustle, but not too many ballots.”


The Sunni districts predictably obeyed their leaders boycott directive. In internal memos, American military officials reported that 150 voting centers never opened at all in some Sunni strongholds. Polling booths were not installed in the Sunni, Turkomen and Assyrian neighborhoods of the northern town of Mosul. Assyrian Christians staged large demonstrations to protest their loss of voting right and representation in the national assembly, but were given no alternative means of balloting; nor did they rate media attention.

[RaulVB]

4. Probably correct, however,

You have to remember that THE US "GOVERNMENT" DECLARED THAT THE TURNOUT NEEDED TO BE OVER 50% TO CONSIDER THE "ELECTION" A "SUCCESS."

That's why they started to lie quickly, yesterday morning.

[sickem]

5. elections

The war party and the complacent, media lapdogs that represent them don't seem to learn from their mistakes. They are all touting the "elections" in Iraq this past weekend as some kind of "historic milestone." They can't get enough of themselves and their charade that it actually means something and somehow it's going to undo the mess the Bushies have made over there. The media has done this all along. Remember when the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down in Baghdad in that staged photo op in April 2003? Every news outlet in America played the footage over and over again ad naseum of a handful of defiant Iraqis stomping on the statue and a surprising number of gullible Americans were led to believe at that moment that the "war" was over. In hindsight we know that that was merely the beginning, not the end. The whole episode made the media look ridiculous but that didn't stop them from swallowing each and every falsehood the Bush administration came up with after that in its futile hunt for WMD. Remember all of those false stories? Then when the insurgency began the Bushies denied that it existed so all the news outlets denied it also. I lost track of when the rhetoric shifted but now talking about the insurgency is pretty routine for the press. I wonder when they changed their minds? Then when Saddam's sons were killed that was supposed to stop the insurgency. Everybody cheered and partied for days. Then when the rush wore off it turned out it was just false hope. It didn't really make much difference. Then it was the same with the capture of Saddam himself. Then the Falluja massacres. Now it's the election. It's just a big shell game they're playing. Nothing is going to change.

Once the Iraqi people realize that participating in this bogus election as the Americans demanded is not going to make the Americans go away any sooner, they will sour on the "Democracy" idea.

You can't believe anything in the American press. They're all corporate whores. read the foreign presses online.

[understandinglife]

2. Am distributing this widely. Thank you (nt)

BE THE BU$H OPPOSITION; 24/7

[emlev]

6. kick for alternative media and brave reporters

[Senator]

7. Heck, even the expatriates...

...failed the litmus test.

Not that you'd know it from headlines such as:

Registered Iraqi Expatriates Vote in Overwhelming Numbers -
Voice of America

Participation at 93% of registered expatriates

Ok. And how many registered?

Uh...less than 30 percent.

Some celebration of freedom, eh?