SUNDAY MORNING JANUARY 30

Today is the anniversary of the l968 Tet Offensive in South Vietnam,,,

It’s Sunday in Baghad, zero hour for the birth of a new post democracy democracy. A post democracy democracy is one which is implanted, or should we say imposed. In America, on TV News especially it seems to be a bigger deal than in Iraq.

All the networks have anchors in place. A haggard looking Dan Rather is on the scene. NBC is interviewing Allawi. The Today Show is going out on patrol with American soldiers. Its going better than planned says Richard Engel. More than two dozen dead but the spin is positive.

JuanCole.com reported early this morning: “Explosions rocked West, South and East Baghdad, as well as many cities throughout the Sunni heartland–Baqubah, Mosul, Balad, and in Salahuddin Province (7 attacks by noon). There was also an attack in the Turkmen north at Talafar, and in the Shiite deep south at Basra. In Basra, Coalition troops raided the al-Hamra Mosque. Four were killed and seven wounded in an attack in Sadr City. These kinds of statistics were common in the election-poll attacks.

“Turnout seems extremely light in the Sunni Arab areas, where some polling stations did not even open. It was heavier in the Shiite south and in the Kurdish north.” In the US only 10% of the eligible Iraqis are voting. NBC has images of “happy Iraqis” dancing in Delaware, cheering in Detroit. This propaganda will be supplemented when US officials led by Condoleeza Rice flood the zone of the Sunday Talk shows and spin this as a great victory.

On Al Jazeera, there is a report saying: “that the heavy security presence caused fear among citizens more than the attacks themselves.”

POLL PROJECTS POLITICAL OUTCOME

AP reports: “an Iraqi poll that shows that the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance coalition will do best in Sunday’s election, but won’t get a majority. The Iraqiya list of interim PM Iyad Allawi comes in second. The united Kurdish list will also do quite well (Kurds will almost certainly be over-represented in the new parliament). The poll says that no other list seems likely to get more than about 3% of the vote. In a 275-member parliament, that would be about 8 or 9 seats. If the poll is borne out by events, Iraqi politics will look an awful lot like Israeli politics in its dynamics, because the parliamentary electoral system works the same way. If the UIA can’t form a government on its own, it will need a coalition partner– either the Allawi list (which would give it a comfortable majority if that one does well) or a set of four or five small parties, each of which might have special demands and which might threaten to leave the majority coalition if they don’t get their way.”

As for US policy, the Washington Post reports “The Bush administration has for now ruled out a definite plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq after Sunday’s elections, but military commanders do aim to have Iraqi security forces begin taking the lead in combat operations in certain parts of the country as early as spring.”

Veteran Iraq correspondent John Burns waxes more philosophical in the NY Times: “Questions about the election go beyond U.S. stewardship, to issues that touch on whether it is realistic to think that democracy can be implanted in Iraq.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/international/middleeast/30democracy.html?th

OPPOSITION TO MORE IRAQ FUNDING UNDERWAY

Anti-war activists in the US are opposing the Administration’s request for another 80 BILLION for Iraq. United for Peace and Justice: “George W. Bush is asking Congress for $80 billion more for the failed Iraq war. Congress is gearing up to pour more money to “stay the course” of the past two tragic years. Tell your Member of Congress that not one more dime should go to waging war in Iraq. Instead, the U.S. must end the occupation, bring our troops home, and support Iraqi sovereignty.

“Many good-intentioned people in the United States say we can’t withdraw our troops now and abandon Iraqis to chaos and disorder. Yet the U.S. presence on the streets of Iraq is fueling animosity, motivating the armed resistance, and sealing the fate for failed democracy in Iraq. Every extra day and dime the U.S. spends on its reckless course in Iraq deepens the
suffering in Iraq and at home.”

SATURDAY JAN 29: Watching Democracy Unfold

There was a run up to the war with coverage that was flawed and now even the network news presidents admit it. Today with bombs bursting in air, there’s coverage of the run up to the Iraq “election.”

And is it ever flawed.

I am staring at CNN’s Anderson Cooper zipping up his armored sweater and riding around in humvee as part of an overwritten piece lauding the bravery of American soldiers and the agony of Iraq. I am watching a report on a 100,000 ballots shipped to Michigan for American-Iraqis to vote only to be told that only ten thousand are likely to fill one out. “But no matter how many vote, ” a voice intones, “its what happens next that matters” What? The cliché monsters seem to be everywhere.

Salon is reporting that the US Embassy was attacked yesterday, a sign that the so called insurgents (resistance in these quarters) have the advantage, Salon calls them “guerrillas” And says it “was a dramatic sign of guerrillas’ ability to hit at the heart of power in Iraq even as the U.S. and Iraqi militaries took some of their strictest security measures ever for the election, imposing a strict lockdown in the capital and large parts of the country.”

Reuters calls the “guerrillas”"militants” (Huh?) and reports: “The militants have sworn to turn the poll into a bloodbath and kill anyone who dares to vote.” (To my knowledge only the Zarquawi group has said that. Are they the only militants? (Read below.)

“BRACING FOR VIOLENCE?”

The election show seems a desperate effort to reinforce legitimacy. Notes a Times report: “There were ominous signs that Sunday could be violent and chaotic. Iraqi police in Baghdad reported that 11 police cars had been stolen in the past 10 days, raising the possibility that insurgents could stage attacks on polling places - as they have promised - using one of the few types of cars that will be permitted to move freely on the streets on Sunday. Masked men have been spotted carrying away police flak jackets from the scenes of car bombings recently, and security agencies were warning journalists and others to be on the lookout for fake checkpoints that are manned by insurgents in disguise”

New College’s Danny Cassidy, a dedicated Times dissector, comments: “‘bracing’ for ‘expected?’ violence? there’s a full flown guerrilla insurgency bracing the entire US Army? The NYT reads like the reporters are all smoking the pipe. Unreality-ville. Brooks is writing about Springtime in America with Bush as Itaw frazzles into a total unraveling, the dollar poises to plunge into the economic abyss, and the economy and foreign policy act like two giant tornados about to mate into a spiraling cataclysm.”

The NY Times is also finally reminding us of a context that most of the TV reporters seem blissfully unaware of: “A survey of 3,500 Arab citizens in six countries, organized by Professor Telhami and conducted by Zogby International, found last year that most citizens regard Iraqis as worse off under American occupation than they were under Saddam Hussein. Most, it found, accuse the United States of being motivated not by a desire to spread democracy, but by an interest in Arab oil, a stronger Israel and a weaker Muslim world. NYT, 1/29/05.

The Economic Times of India reported Saturday:

A SHOW OF DEMOCRACY OR FORCE?

“In Baghdad, bursts of heavy machine gun fire rattled through central districts at midday, and several heavy detonations shook the downtown area in the afternoon. American fighter jets roared through the skies in a show of force. ”

ROBERT FISK

“This election will change the world. But not in the way the Americans imagined”

Robert Fisk in Baghdad for the Independent (UK)

“America has insisted on these elections - which will produce a largely Shia parliament representing Iraq’s largest religious community - because they are supposed to provide an exit strategy for embattled US forces, but they seem set to change the geopolitical map of the Arab world in ways the Americans could never have imagined. For George Bush and Tony Blair this is the law of unintended consequences writ large.”

http://207.44.245.159/article7908.htm

ANOTHER CLAIM UNREPORTED HERE

Iraqi Resistance Group Says Not to Target Elections

The group said it would not target Iraqi polling stations or voters.

BAGHDAD, January 27 (IslamOnline.net) – Three days ahead of the controversial vote, a leading Iraqi resistance group vowed not to target polling stations or attack innocent Iraqis, saying the real battle is
against the occupiers.

In a statement, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net, the Salah Al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Front for Resistance, said they would not be dragged into a battle against their own people.

The group pledged to avoid targeting polling stations or being involved in spilling the blood of innocent civilians.

“We are keen not to harm the lives of all Iraqis regardless of their sects and races — that is an order for the armed wing of the group to follow,” said the two-page statement.

“We should not be dragged into side battles which do not affect the true struggle with the enemy occupiers,” it added.

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-01/27/article05.shtml

WHAT ARE OTHER IRAQIS SAYING

Here’s Riverbend from her latest post on her blog, Baghdad Burning (Thursday):

“Baghdad has been unstable these last few days. We had several explosions this last week and although the number of explosions wasn’t surprising, the force of a couple of them had us wincing. There’s a real fear of the coming elections and what they might bring. I don’t like the idea that they’ve selected schools as election sites. School is out right now, but the security threat is obvious- elections sites are most likely going to be bombed. Schools are having a difficult time as it is getting things fixed and replaced, they don’t need the added trauma of an explosion. It’s just a bad idea.

“The curfew begins at six from now on and there’s also a “driving curfew” in addition to the ordinary one. I don’t have the exact hours but I know that during several hours of the day, it’s OK to be on foot but not OK to be in a car. I don’t have the slightest idea how they’re going to enforce that one.

“Ghazi Al Yawir, our alleged current president, was giving an interview on LBC yesterday. Apparently, he and Allawi aren’t on the same election list anymore because they had a falling out as to who should head the list. Ghazi proposed the president should be the head of the list and Allawi claimed somebody Shia (Allawi himself) should head the list. Now, Allawi’s group is 285 on the election ballot and Yawir’s group is 288, I think.”

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#110683333595588226

I just had to share these reports on the unfolding spectacle of an imposed election. More to come.

Thanks to all who expressed concern about my still pinched nerve.

With the help of acupuncture, a chiropractor, my own doctor and pain pills, I am trying to write. But this is much as I can do at one setting.

Share your thoughts: write: dissector@mediachannel.org

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