Great News: Democracy already taking hold in Iraq!

And the terrorists are losing:

----------------

Iraqi polls bring secular success

Herded into lines by inexperienced police officers, hundreds of would-be Iraqi voters pushed into a sparsely equipped school at the weekend to cast their ballots for the local council of Tar.
Deep in the marshlands of the Euphrates, the town of 15,000 people was the first to rise against Saddam Hussein in the abortive intifada of 1991. Now it was holding the first genuine election in its history.

The poll was the latest in a series which this overwhelmingly Shia province has held in the past six weeks, and the results have been surprising. Seventeen towns have voted, and in almost every case secular independents and representatives of non-religious parties did better than the Islamists.

<snip>

"This is a free election," said Jawad Khadum, a teacher in Tar. "We want more of them, for example in our teachers' union and for the mayor."

Like many professionals, he was worried by the way some religious parties had been throwing their weight around, trying to close shops which sell alcohol and pressing every woman to wear a veil. He saw the vote as a chance to stop this, he said.

The results will have delighted him. Neither of the two Islamist candidates was among the 10 elected. A woman teacher got in, the first female councillor in the province. Other winners included an agricultural engineer and three businessmen.

<snip>

"It was not a surprise," said Jalil Abed Jafar, a doctor, in the Communist party's upstairs offices along the waterfront. Shatra is where the party was founded 70 years ago, and the offices were still full of posters celebrating that event, along with photographs of dozens of members executed by the former regime.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1185792,00.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------


I was really heartened to see this story in the Guardian.

It is spelled "losing."

:hi:

Have shown that the majority of Iraqis want secular, democratic rule as well.

a viable succesful exit strategy can be implemented.

I am also happy about how the US has now backed off Sadr it seems. Sadr isn't America's "problem". I think it is very important that the Iraqis sort it out themselves.

I trust it comes as no surprise to you that the majority of Iraqis want secular rule. That is, after all, what they had throughout the 20th century.

many Shia's having had their religion supressed would want to go the way of Iran.

What scares me is that if the US stays too long, and use to much heavy handed tactics it might help push many secular Iraqis into the hands of the radical mullahs.

We shall see if the national elections have the same success. Hopefully they do so we can get out of that nightmare.

A viable democracy is not in the interests of those who planned the takeover of Iraq. The appearance of one, yes.

We'll see.

Bush* is liable to declare war on 'em.

I wish them well. Democracy is a good thing. Did anyone else NOT hear * even mention the word "democracy" last night?

free national elections were held in Iraq and the Communist Party obtained a strong majority.

WW2 general and president 20 January 1953-20 January 1961

in Vietnam during his presidency?

Edit: indicated wrong post

WWII history.

I found it fascinating how Eisenhower during the Suez crisis was raging at the French for taking unilateral actions without the consent of the Security Council.

How things change :-)

THE EISENHOWER YEARS:

1954: Following the French defeat, a settlement was reached to end the war. Vietnam was divided. The French remained in the South until elections were held to re-unite the country. France was disenchanted with the war so it readily agreed.

But the Americans were concerned over the possibility of the communists (in both North and South Vietnam) winning the planned election. To prevent that action, the U.S. supported Ngo Dinh Diem, an anti-communist Christian, who they installed as Prime Minister. Diem was later elected President of South Vietnam.

1956: As president, Diem was opposed by peasants and buddhists. His harsh actions against these groups, and against groups suspected of communist affiliation, fractured the South Vietnamese population. In an effort to thwart his actions, the communists, who believed they would have won a general election, organized special units, the Viet Cong. Eisenhower's administration delivered more U.S. financial aid to Diem's regime.

http://community-2.webtv.net/Deewebpage/UNITEDSTATESNAVYIN/page3.html

I guess you mean the Islamists?

war on terror is a silly concept.

It is a war against militant Islamists...


On edit: added:

Actually, you can perhaps be an islamist without being a terrorist. The boys in London, like Umar Bakri Muhammed seem to think they are. Well, islamists were defeated which is good for all. Many of the seem to also have terrorist tendencies.

you can be a non-terrorist Islamist, and you can be a secular terrorist. The U.S. knows all about secular terrorism.

They actually pretend to care about the people of Iraq and then think we're stupid enough to fall for it.