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January 24th, 2004
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Iraqis Demand Faster Transition To Ineffectual Pseudo-Democracy |
Protestors Don't Want the U.S. to Establish a Monolithic Bureaucracy or a Cruel Dictatorship - They Want to Do It Themselves
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Iraqis demand the right to be ruled by men with turbans |
World - Protestors in Iraq continued to defy their American rulers today, once again taking to the streets to demand a quicker transition from U.S.-led military occupation to their own ineffectual pseudo-democratic government.
The demonstrators were incited by prominent Iraqis such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has called for "unconditional, immediate sham elections" to allow the people of Iraq to have "direct participation in the process of pretending to choose our country's leadership."
The increasing demand for nominal democracy has been met with resistance from the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Bush administration. "We cannot transfer power to Iraq until basic decisions have been made about the structure of the Iraqi government," President Bush said. "Will it be a giant, inept bureaucracy, or puppet government dominated by foreign corporations, or perhaps a fundamentalist Islamic dictatorship that pays lip service to democratic principles? There cannot be elections in Iraq until tough choices like these have been made."
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| Ayatollah Sistani is now calling for "unconditional, immediate sham elections." |
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Others argue that the national infrastructure must be restored before make-believe democracy can take hold. "In spite of our best efforts, many parts of Iraq are still lacking basic services, like banks and telephone systems," Iraqi Civil Administrator Paul Bremer pointed out. "These resources are essential to even the most basic corrupt political system. Without telephones, how can lobbyists and special interest groups stay in touch with the government officials they're trying to manipulate? Without financial institutions, how can day-to-day graft and bribery take place?"
Furthermore, Bremer insists, a constitution must be in place before elections are held. "Iraq needs a constitution establishing basic rights, in order to give the new government a plausible illusion of legitimacy," he explained. "These rights must be defined vaguely enough to allow significant loopholes. Otherwise, how will Kurds, women, non-Muslims and perhaps even Sunnis be effectively oppressed?"
Ayatollah Sistani and others argue that these conditions are not prerequisites to self-mis-government. "The Americans do not understand the history and culture of our people," he said. "We Iraqis have centuries of experience in religious dogmatism, tribalism, and intolerance. We have been proudly hating each other since before the United States even existed. We are as ready as any nation to establish a phony democratic system based on an illusory commitment to human rights."
Increasingly, ordinary Iraqis seem to agree. "We are tired of having our lives controlled by heartless American bureaucrats," says Baghdad auto mechanic Ali al-Sahaf. "We want to have our lives controlled by heartless Iraqi bureaucrats. I think we deserve that much."
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