A well-informd and objective analysis of the current situation.

A wise and perceptive analysis Bashdar (and only 24 years old!).

One of the most important rules of engagement that the United Nations evolved over decades of experience in constructing the conditions for electoral democracy in war-torn states was the complete disarming of warring factions before registration and polling (even if this did involve some sleight of hand over a period of years, such as funding the opposing factions for electoral campaigns as a price for the laying down of arms). If voters cannot turn up at polling stations without being intimidated, threatened, shot and bombed, then a free and fair election cannot realistically occur, and the country inevitably plunges once more into warfare as the populace recognises it has been duped and betrayed.

In unilaterally designing the electoral process in Iraq under its own terms with the minimal possible lead-time, the USA has made it impossible for the UN to contribute its electoral capabilities and experience, and the people of Iraq will suffer the consequences of a failed, and probably bloody, election.

In such circumstances the question arises, is this all a conspiracy by the US (a failed election will give it an excuse to meddle further in the middle east to secure its geopolitical interests) or a cock-up (the Bush administration is so blindingly ignorant and ideologically driven that it is unable to see its own errors). The rule of thumb is that it is usually a cock-up. How terribly sad.

Excellent article by Bashar Ismael and good Post by Grace Pettigrew.

Yes, Grace if we could only be sure that the democracy promised to the Iragis does not end up like the one promised after WW1, with TE Lawrence double-crossed and British Oil also complicating the deal. Then under orders from the young Churchill, ten thousand Iraqi and Kurd rebels were slaughtered by the RAF, the so-called democracy now called a Dyarky democracy with a British watchkeeper guarding every importan government post as in colonial India.

Earlier in the present Iraqi occupation Paul Bremner had set up a similar plan for the Americans after the so-called allied withdrawal, it seems, as the one after WW1 with the Brits.

Indeed, it is believed now with oil-man Dick Cheney pretty well running the show, the Bremner Plan could still be well alive, despite all the promises we read about Iraq in the news.

As far as the Kurds are concerned, they will never be happy unless they could regain all their original cultural territories, which not only merge into Iraq, but also into Turkey and Iran. In fact, it is believed that US unipolar power since the end of the Cold War, would have been far better used morally and decently to strengthen the United Nations which possibly could have possibly solved the Kurdish problem with negotians with Turkey and Iran, and with a very strong UN, also could have levered Saddam out of Iraq without war. The truth of the matter is that the real powers that be in the White House have other ideas, mostly concerning oil and total global hegemony.

George C, WA - Bushbred