iraqi elections

[audiedoggie]

ok, i normally hate geraldo, but he was good tonight. they had a huge thing with him about the elections in iraq. they went off splendidly with only 30-something deaths (9 of them were the suicide bombers), which is much less than expected. and over 50% of iraqis turned out to vote.

i think it is awesome! i almost cried watching all these people literally dancing in the streets because they were able to go vote (for most of them, for the first time in their whole lives). i personally think that we as americans take that privilege for granted. we dont have to have heavily armed security and all the extra security measures when we vote. the chance of a suicide bomber at one of our elections here is slim to none. and still a LOT of people didnt vote. (i am also bitter tho, because kerry didnt win!)

[Amaurote]

It's heartening, all right, and a great step forward - but in perspective, with the CIA already diverting millions of dollars in suitcases to its favoured candidates (as they did in the Ukraine, Afghanistan and scores of other places over the last fifty years alone) and terror blackspots in the Sunni areas where the turn-out is suppressed by the insurgency, I think we have to wait on events.

The classic example of point one was in Chile prior to Allende's election in 1970, when the CIA spent more on anti-Allende propaganda than LBJ and Goldwater combined spent on their own presidential campaigns in '64. You're only as free and fair as they want you to be.

[jackwright]

An Al Jezzera summery of the death toll of the Amerikan elections in Iraq (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/15F23DED-17B3-4F3F-A1DA-A1E502E1DB74.htm)

Don't let anyone fool you, Gerraldo still is, always has been and will always be a punk.

[kittyroze]

Sigh...still...ONLY thirty something died? That still sucks.

[jackwright]

What the hell, there's only been a couple of million of them died since this abortion was started by his father, 15 years ago. Let's see if we can make it a billion before the Amerikan people open their eyes and put a stop to the atrocoties that our leadership are commiting against the people of the mid-East in the name of Christ.....and oil. Not necessarily in that order.

[Amaurote]

I hear Al-Zurqawi's going to be the next President. FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY, YAY!

[jackwright]

Was there ever any question.

Kind of like knowing Bush was going to be the next president, back in 2001.
,

[Amaurote]

I love the way the neo-cons were spinning this as a way to stop the insurgency. What actually happened in Basra was this: the insurgency stopped, the insurgents told everyone to go out and vote for their front organizations - polls closed, insurgency recommences. They're terrorists, not idiots.

[jackwright]

They are not insurgents, they are resistance.

But, you know, there are several things about the whole fiasco that trouble me. The first being the absentee vote. Last week the media was telling us that millions of Iraqis were preparing to cast their ballots in absentia from all over the world. The radio media on the wast coast was saying that the absentee turnout was exceptionaly high. yet in an article in the Times (LA) they said that actual eldgable voters in the LA and San Diego areas weren't knocking down the doors to get their ballots. God knows that our Nazi administration wouldn't attempt any manipulations of the absentee

The next thing that bothers me is the, much unreported, fact that the Sunnis refused to vote. They have a large enough portion of the population to, pretty much, controll any election in Iraq. So, why not vote in an election that you are guarenteed to control. What are they afraid of ?

And last but not least if Falija. In the Al Jezzera summery that I linked above there is not a single incident listed as taking place in Faluja. I wonder vwhy that is. Oh yeah, we murdered that entire town to the very last man, woman and child. Stinking rubble piles don't cast many votes. But they make great monuments for the 'undecideds' of the process. Maybe that's what the Sunnis are afraid of.

[Evilpoptart]

First off.........Doggie.......STOP watching FOX News

Ok, Elections are done, and of course Al-Zurqawi is going to be president. Like Am said, this comes as no surprise. Its happened before, in Chile, in the Ukraine, and everywhere else we send troops/money. However unlike Hati and Sudan and the like.....we can't just pull out.

Just because the elections are over, the problems aren't

Which reminds me.....Has anyone seen the Al Jezzera documentry Control Room. Its pretty sad when the only "faor and balanced" reporting coming out of the region is in Arabic.

[Amaurote]

To be honest, I use "terrorist", "insurgent" and "resistance fighter" pretty much interchangeably, and without making any value judgements: they all apply in a technical, neutral sense. There are ex-military folk here and elsewhere who take umbrage at that, but the fact is that they're simply descriptive synonyms.

There has been quite a bit of comment about the Sunni vote here - apparently about 7,000 people voted in Fallujah, but the reports have been that the Shi'ia insurgents in the south ensured that their local population voted, while the Sunni-Ba'ath insurgents in the Sunni Triangle worked to suppress the vote, and partly succeeded.

I'm very curious about the funding of some of these parties and individual candidates by the CIA: I can't help wondering just how many suitcases filled with greenbacks you'd find if you turned Iraq upside-down right now. If their previous is anything to go by, they're probably funding everyone - the crumbs to the guys they distrust but want to influence just in case, and the lion's share to the guys they knew they could corrupt all along.

[JakeD]

Which reminds me.....Has anyone seen the Al Jezzera documentry Control Room. Its pretty sad when the only "faor and balanced" reporting coming out of the region is in Arabic.

Haven't seen it, but as I mentioned to Am in another thread, most Americans automatically ignore Al Jazeera news stories because they assume that since it's in Arabic and based in the Middle East, that it's automatically uber-biased bullshit, and that saddens me. God forbid that anyone opened their eyes to other countries and realized that not every single news source is willfully uninformative and has ulterior motives....unlike a lot of American news sources....

[audiedoggie]

ok, for the record, i only saw geraldo because i dont have control of my father's tv. i was getting free food, so i couldnt bitch too much about his television choices. i hate watching fox news, i think it sucks, and fair and balanced is a crock of shit. i try to get my hands on any alternative news source i can. i think news in this country is pitiful. geraldo just happened to be the first thing about the iraq elections that i saw.

Sigh...still...ONLY thirty something died? That still sucks.
and i wasnt trying to discredit the suckiness of 30 people dying. all i meant was that i was afraid that a lot more people were going to die.

[JakeD]

ok, for the record, i only saw geraldo because i dont have control of my father's tv. i was getting free food, so i couldnt bitch too much about his television choices.

Hey, I'd happily watch gay bondage porn if someone was going to feed me for free.

...I'd probably watch it anyways out of sheer curiosity, but free food ain't bad either. And I had somewhat of the same reaction that Kitty had over the fact that only 30 people died. I honestly expected much more. And I agree with the both of you that even thirty people dying sucks. :/

[audiedoggie]

Hey, I'd happily watch gay bondage porn if someone was going to feed me for free.

...I'd probably watch it anyways out of sheer curiosity, but free food ain't bad either. And I had somewhat of the same reaction that Kitty had over the fact that only 30 people died. I honestly expected much more. And I agree with the both of you that even thirty people dying sucks. :/
it would have to be some damn good food for me to watch gay bondage porn......wait......im totally broke......ok.......it would only have to be a microwave dinner

[Evilpoptart]

* Evilpoptart waves around a tv dinner and a DVD copy of Strap On Queens From Uranus

[audiedoggie]

* audiedoggie jumps in her car and heads for detroit

[Poseidon]

* Poseidon waves 2 filet mignons and 2 twice-baked potatoes and a Bondage porno of JakeD and EPT

[Bassmama]

* Bassmama gasses up the bus & heads for Pos's. "I'm bringing the lobsters. Anyone need a ride, hop on in!"

[Amaurote]

On the subject of American daytime television now infecting Little Britain, I'd just like to say this: Judge Judy. Gee, thanks, America.

I mean, I know we sent you Right Said Fred, and that was vindictive of us, granted; but that was just a blip. Judge Judy is every day.

[JakeD]

On the subject of American daytime television now infecting Little Britain, I'd just like to say this: Judge Judy. Gee, thanks, America.

I mean, I know we sent you Right Said Fred, and that was vindictive of us, granted; but that was just a blip. Judge Judy is every day.

Oh, come on. You mean you don't enjoy watching that pucker-faced old bat spout insulting clichéd statements at the poor bastards that end up in her "court"?

...If not, I completely sympathize. She and her ilk should have to fight each other in cage matches where the winner gets to have every bodily hair plucked one by one and then swim ten laps in a large pool filled with rubbing alcohol...underwater...and they can't close their eyes or else they'll be immediately shot with a harpoon.

[Amaurote]

She looks like she's been sand-blasted by the entire Gobi Desert, this is undeniable. I think I'd actually like her show if she had the power and inclination to impose capital sentences on all her guests and then herself, but she doesn't, so I don't.

[Evilpoptart]

Oh come on Am.....

WWTBAM - Nuff Said
Coupling - Even gheyer version of Friends
Coldplay - Ghey version of Radiohead
Bush - Again, self explanitory
Hugh Grant - Well at least he nails hookers
Bad Dr Who - Shut up Am, some of it is BAD :p


It could be worse, you could have to watch Texas Justice, or Maury.....

[Mr. Bojangles]

Or Walker, Texas ranger. Fuck me, but that needs to die quietly, now