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Cleaning Up the Nation
Austin Bay:
If Air America were a conservative radio network its corrupt funding trail and cynical abuse of a poverty program would be front page news at the NY Times and full-time mega-scandal at
Rank Materialism
Freedom. I am now the proud new owner of a Gateway 6020GZ laptop, perfect for students and others with limited means. I can now go into a Starbucks or a Barnes & Noble and look like I'm doing some
Fallujah Fonda
Uh-oh. From the Telegraph comes this exciting news:
Jane Fonda is returning to anti-war activism and embarking on a cross-country tour to call for an end to US military operations in Iraq.
Acros
John Pilger: Partner in Terrorism
In an outrageous piece of terrorist propaganda appearing on the cover of today's New Statesman, John Pilger puts the blame for the 7/7 London attacks not on the terrorists, but rather on Tony Blair:
Compare and Contrast
You know, I really wish Iraq were having an honest, safe, real election. But that isn't happening, and that's a shame. Even if you were and are opposed to this war, as I am, you would wish the Bush people would do things right just for the simple reason that it would help our standing in the world. But they can' even do that.
Daily Kos, focusing on the violence:
This is quite a mess.
Juan Cole has three posts on the election, headlined Dozens Killed in Election Day Guerrilla Campaign, Zogby: 9% of Sunnis Will Vote / Stong Majority of Iraqis Wants US Out, and 15 Iraqis Killed in Attacks Focusing on Polling Places. Accentuate the positive- or what the left sees as positive. It's bad for Bush you see, which after all is the most important thing.
Looks reasonably successful so far, no mass casualties, turnout low only in a few trouble spots. It's time to prepare for three weeks of gloating from the hawks before they realize that nothing has really changed and they return to previous hawk practice of not mentioning Iraq.
What's changed is that a major Arab state has conducted an election that went very well. The Arab zeitgeist (sorry) will never be the same. But yes, the anti-democratic forces will continue their sabotage of Iraq's development.
I'm with Matt [Yglesias] on the Iraqi elections, a day that will go down in history but be forgotten the morning after. Like the June 30th handover, this is a largely symbolic event whose success -- given the constraints of Sunni non-participation -- will be forgotten by nightfall.
The left can hope anyway.
In short, other than a somewhat lower level of violence than I expected, this fiasco pretty much went as I thought it would: Shiites get their majority, Kurds get their autonomy, Sunnis get their justification for not only the insurgency, but what will now be a stepped up civil war.
Too late to call a do-over. We now have to count on magnanimous Shiites to see their self-interest as foregoing the opportunity to screw the Sunnis in the formation of their new constitution and permanent "legitimate everywhere except Sunnis areas" government.
Or, we now have to count on the majority not to screw over the minority, just like in, oh, nearly every other country on Earth. Was having a minority screw over the majority better somehow? Saddam sure did keep those magnanimous Shiites in check.
Today, there's no voice louder than that of freedom.
No more confusion about what the people want, they have said their word and they said it loud and the world has got to respct and support the people's will.
God bless your brave steps sons of Iraq and God bless the defenders of freedom.
Have you ever seen anything like this? Iraq will be O.K. with so many brave people, it will certainly O.K.; I can say no more just now; I am just filled with pride and moved beyond words. People are turning up not only under the present threat to polling stations but also under future threats to themselves and their families; yet they are coming, and keep coming. Behold the Iraqi people; now you know their true metal.
I'm stil overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions that I don't know what to say more. The only things I can feel so strongly now are hope, excitement, pride and a strange internal peace. I have won my battle and I'm watching the whole Iraqis winning their battle too. I'll try to write to you later my friends.
Here's my favorite Iraqi post on the election, in its entirety:
I did
That's from Life in Baghdad.
This one (via Silicon Valley Redneck), from Diary from Baghdad, is pretty good too:
victory
Update: Jeff Goldstein and Wizbang! also take note of Oliver Willis's bizzare post.
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© 2002-2006
Brian O'Connell.


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