Mere om valget i Irak hos Talisman Gate:
The Shia community did not vote as a confident majority of the population: they followed the voting pattern of a ghettoized minority still scarred from many years of dictatorship. Rather than think for themselves and exercise their individual right to choose, they have abdicated this responsibility in favor of their behemoth communal shepherd: Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
And the Iran-leaning Shia Islamists running on the United Iraqi Alliance list seized the day, and did some very irreligious things such as lying, cheating, bullying, stealing and probably violating a couple more commandments in their drive to grab the majority of seats in the new parliament just in case Sistani’s hint and wink didn’t do the trick.
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Iran’s mullahs, who are increasingly getting belligerent across the board, pulled off a coup in Baghdad right under the very noses of the United States. But will Iraq’s triumphant mullahs, who fought tooth and nail to nail this vote, allow free and unfettered elections in four years? Will they be wise enough to realize that there is more to running a state than penning ringing sermons and folding a turban? Will they extend a hand to political rivals with the managerial wherewithal to do something about this mess of a government? Will the Sunni leaders deliver some compromises and actually lead their community to a civil peace, or will they cower in the face of brash Ba’athists who are still intoxicated by the prospects of returning to power through violence and may even be toying with civil war as a conduit? Will the Iranians come to their senses and realize that what doesn’t work for Iran will probably not work for a far more complicated and nuanced society like Iraq’s?
Om fire år kan vi se, hvordan det hele gik: katastrofe eller demokrati. Det er lang tid at vente for en blogger, der er vant til instant gratification.
Talisman Gate og dets søstersite (The Other) Talisman Gate er for øvrigt spændende læsning for enhver Irak-interesseret. Nibras Kazimi, der er iraker og forsker ved Hudson Institute bringer her sine klummer fra New York Sun og andre perspektiver og betragtninger.