The best laid plans of democracy?

[dd74]

According to Rummy, it looks like it ain't gonna' happen for all of
Iraq anytime soon...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/09/24/iraq.main/index.html

[tabs]

How interesting..Rummy is saying that if the insurgents don't want to play nice ...that they will just be left out of the process all together... and have no say in what happens therafter....they will be outlaws in the new system and the government in place will take them out...the insurgents will be seperated form the herd..

[Superman]

Okay, this can be the official thread. Here was my initial reaction:

I'm sorry, but I just had to laugh out loud. Like this is a stunning surprize. Like rummy's solution (exclude certain areas from the election) is workable. Golly, this is better than cartoons.

Tabs may be in disagreement with me, thinking that it's okay to leave out a section of the country. Does the term "disenfranchsement" come to mind? Do we know how many people might be sympathetic to the insurgents' efforts to rid the country of American troops? How much of a democratic LANDSLIDE would we need in order to satisfy the disenfranchised insurgent movement folks that it was okay to exclude them because it would not have made a difference anyway? Would a unanimous democratic election that they could not participate in achieve that? After all, they're reasonable people, right?

This is hilarious.

[Superman]

I officially dub this the "Mission Accomplished" approach to election planning.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Superman
This is hilarious.

Damn right it is. The sheer factor that only a third of the Iraqi population can determine it's next president, astounds me. WTF is Bush et al thinking?

POINTS re. 4 mos 'til election in Jan.

1) Unstable and fearful Iraqi citizens - yes, they want elections, but they don't want to be shot while waiting to vote.
2) No information as to how the election will be set up.
3) No workers brought in to "work" the election.
4) Bush wants the UN to set all this up, and Kofi Annan has essentially said, "Dream on until you secure the country."

I could go on, but I'm laughing too hard with Jim.

Rummy is so weighted down with the truth over this debacle that he just had to spill the beans that elections aren't in the cards - at least not by Jan...

[tabs]

Insurgents don't want to be part of the system thats why they are insurgents...

And why Oh why are you worried about hurting the insurgents feelings..if they are left out....they sure don't worry about your feelings when they chop the head of an American off....

You can worry yourself blue in the face about how the other guy feels...but did it ever occur to you that you need to worry about yourself first....the bible says charity begins at home...

I do worry so about how Zarqawi feels when he gets all that American blood all over himself....does he have a good drycleaner...well maybe some of our Quackers can suggest one to him...

[Superman]

I worry about peace.

[red ufo]

Wait a minute I thought Iraq was a soverign nation? Remember that monkey Bush sayings its 'full soverignty"?

So its up to DUMBSfield to decide?

If Iraq's political future is decided by a stupid old man in the Pentagon, then mark soverignty down as another Bush lie. I guess Iraq can only vote when the hacked DIEaBOLD machines are in place to pick the next GW CIA puppet.

[fintstone]

I agree with Rumsfeld...if part of the country doesn't want to participate...it is their tough luck. Groups boycott elections all the time.

[vanwyk4257]

A very large percentage of the insurgents are foreign terrorists trying to prevent the development of a democratic Iraq. The reason some of you are having difficulty resolving yourselves to the fact that our mission in Iraq will succeed is because you are not looking at the situation with the basic understanding that all peoples of all cultures crave freedom and liberty. That is a basic human instinct. If you talk to any troops who have recently returned from Iraq the vast majority of them will tell you that the average Iraqi wants a free country. It will take time to defeat the insurgency, that is a given. The question is, why would anyone vote for John Kerry when he can't decide what he would do with Iraq? I submit to you that his indecision would be disastrous to the entire middle east.

[island911]

Originally posted by dd74
Damn right it is. The sheer factor that only a third of the Iraqi population can determine it's next president, astounds me. WTF is Bush et al thinking?
. . .

It does!?

So then, you'd be astounded to learn that under our 'nice peaceful conditions' here, that we determine our presidents with about HALF of our of voting-age population? astounded

Going forward expecting 1/3 of voting-age population seems quite acceptable to me.

[dd74]

So true, Dr. I imagine we're showing a bad example, huh?

[island911]

Just a bit-o-perspective, there.

Clearly, much of the media (and Kerry) are self-interested in painting the most horrific picture of Iraq, which is sellable.

[john70t]

You said laid and I was thinking of 'Lil Orphan Anal Annie.
Well, that beehive's been smacked enough, and still no oil dollars flowing into the American economy.
We still have Korea, Iran, Syria, Somalia...oh and that African genicide thing. The only problem is the credit card is maxed out already.

[yellow911turbo]

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban and their al Qaeda allies are stepping up plans to disrupt Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s first direct presidential election on Oct. 9, the head of the U.S.-led coalition said on Saturday.

"We have seen indications that they have no other option," Lieutenant-General David Barno told a news conference in Kabul.

"For all terrorists in the region ... disrupting the election is part of their agenda."

Barno said an insurgency that has seen over 1,000 deaths since August last year was being waged by a "tiny minority," and that the rest of the world owed it to Afghanistan to stand by them beyond the election period.

"Our challenge ... is to rise up to the level of resolve shown daily here by our hosts, the people of Afghanistan, he said. "We must remain resolute, we must stay the course."

More than 17,000 U.S. and allied troops are fighting an insurgency waged by the Taliban, overthrown in 2001 for supporting Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his al Qaeda network, architects of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Interim Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to defeat 17 opponents standing against him in the election

If elections are delayed, the Dems will blame Bush for not using all his power to install democracy, if only a fraction of Iraqis get to vote, then Bush and his Iraqi gov't puppets are "tampering with the voting procedures" and therefore hurting the democratic process. In Afghanistan as in Iraq, the insurgents are anti-democratic and they want to disrupt the elections so in my opinion, any step forward towards democracy is a big improvement for Iraq/Afghanistan.

Serge