http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/20005/The Bush Definition of Democracy
By Rahul Mahajan, AlterNet. Posted September 28, 2004.
<snip>The U.S. record in Iraq is not much different. The administration has touted the local elections held under the aegis of the U.S. occupation as evidence of its democratic intentions. But the rhetoric far outstrips the reality. In many instances, the "election" consisted of the appointment of the mayor and/or city council members by the local U.S. commander, sometimes to disastrous effect. For example, the U.S. appointed a Sunni from Baghdad to be mayor of the mostly Shi'a Najaf, cancelled an election he would surely have lost, but later had to remove him from office because of charges of corruption and Ba'athist links.
In Basra, British and U.S. forces appointed local officials to power only to get rid of them later, deciding instead to allow Iraqis to only fill technocratic positions rather than award them political power. In Kirkuk, only 300 delegates, all hand picked and vetted by U.S. forces, were allowed to vote in the "election."
In late June, 2003, U.S. commanders ordered a halt to all local elections. The problem: people and groups opposed to the occupation were expected to win in many of the races. A few days later, Paul Bremer approved resumption of elections, but allowed U.S. commanders to choose between appointing local officials, electing them by specially vetted caucuses, or holding a real election. Not coincidentally, the new policy allows U.S. authorities to choose the form of "election" based on the likelihood of getting the result they want.
Of course, irrespective of method of selection, the U.S. commanders can always countermand any city council decision and dissolve a council if they so chose.
At the national level, the situation in Iraq has been similarly manipulated. To begin with, elections have been postponed repeatedly, even though it would be easier to create voter rolls in Iraq than it was in Afghanistan (For example, the ubiquitous ration cards could have been used as a basis for voter identification and registration). If now a definite date has been set for January, 2005, its only because other countries on the Security Council made it a condition for approving Resolution 1546, on the so-called "transfer of sovereignty."
Meanwhile, however, numerous other aspects of the political process have been either eliminated or undermined. In the immediate aftermath of the U.S. invasion, Paul Bremer canceled an assembly of members of the Iraqi opposition – mostly U.S.-designated, exile groups – planned for June 2003. His reason: the "opposition" was not representative of the country. A month later, Bremer would handpick 25 people, 16 of whom were exiles, to form the Iraqi Governing Council.
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