A Guide to the Iraq Elections: Who's Who?
Bob Dreyfuss at TomPaine.com has a guide of who's supporting whom in the Iraqi elections. It's easy to follow. Here's a sample:
Iran. If you support Iran, vote for Ayatollah Sistani’s Shiite list, headed by Abdel Aziz Hakim, the commander of the Iran-backed paramilitary Badr Brigade. Chances are that this party will get the most votes and put Iraq on the slippery slope to the theocracy. It will harmonize with Iran, and Iran will probably move closer to the Sistani position. And don’t rule out the possibility of an Israeli-Shiite alliance to follow, in a year or two.
Saudi Arabia. Voters who support Saudi Arabia can vote for Allawi’s centrist party. The CIA-backed prime minister, running on a law-and-order platform, will probably come in second, and might even stay on as prime minister. Allawi is closely tied to the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia, although Saudi-Gulf voters can also back Adnan Pachachi, the octogenarian former foreign minister. Allawi means more the same—that is, more violence, more repression, more clashes with the Shiites and the Kurds.
What does America want? Dreyfuss writes,
The Pentagon. DOD intends to stay put in Iraq through 2007, at least, with its full complement of 120,000 soldiers. Don’t expect America to give up its grasp on Iraq anytime soon, despite Bush’s interview in the Times in which he says he’ll acquiesce if the Iraqis ask us to leave, and despite Ted Kennedy’s courageous call for a unilateral withdrawal.
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