It is only one day after the results were announced, and already the battle to form the next government in Iraq is turning ugly, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki seems intent on eating into rival Ayad Allawi’s two seat plurality any way possible.
Earlier today it was revealed that Maliki had quietly sought a ruling from the Iraqi supreme court just before the election results were released that would allow him to bypass Allawi’s plurality through recruiting new bloc members after the election.
But beyond that and perhaps more galling for the Iraqi voter, the Justice and Accountability Commission, which saw several members of Allawi’s bloc barred from competing in the election, has suggested it may block some of his elected members from serving, and replace them with members of some other political faction. Allawi’s narrow two seat lead could scarce stand up to this possibility.
Yet the Maliki government is being even more brazen than this, it would seem, as reports have emerged out of Diyala Province that four Sunni MP-elects from Allawi’s bloc are being targeted by security forces. One has already been captured and is being held incommunicado by the Maliki government, two others have gone into hiding, and the fourth is nowhere to be found.
Maliki had promised to contest the results of the vote and reports have him considering pressing the United Nations to overturn the vote and force a recount, though the UN had already praised the election’s transparency. All the arguments about recounts appear to be very much beside the point, however, if the battle for the plurality has already escalated into summary detentions.
The first..?? So…WTF are we to think?? The CIA guy wins, the Americans said so… and the U.N. is going along..!! The presumed loser is the current TOP PUPPET of the empire. (sorry Mr. Karzai) Even with a score card, I'm afraid this 1 will be a tough call… It's jut the everyday trials and tribulations of the bankrupt EMPIRE…. It might be fun to visit, but I wouldn't wanna LIVE there….!!!!!!!!! The real question will be…… how will this election fiasco play out with the " withdrawal"????? It's alot of oil to just walk away from….. I'm not buyin the official "gee whatz going on??" posture.. Howabout you..???
Maliki is a puppet for the Wall Street-controlled U.S. government.
The US and UK tried, we are told, to "impose democracy". This latest of many squalid Zimbabwe style farces proves what self-deceiving mass-murdering swindlers (to be charitable) Blair and Bush were. Only with the return of the Ba'ath or some other authentically national force dedicated to purging the country of the US and its Quislings can democracy be achieved by the Iraqi people/s. From the British unprovoked attack in 1915 to the national revolution of 1958 was a long time. Genuine democrats will be prepared spend another 43 years (minimum?) bringing to hatred, ridicule and contempt the AngloAmerican imperialists and their puppets. Reparations against this gang and the Zionist Osirak criminals (check Osirak Criminal pilot Zev's reflections in yesterdays' antiwar.com) should follow. But make sure that they do not, like Goering and Himmler, evade the hangman.