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MickityMike

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/31/in...tml?oref=login

3 Insurgent Groups Warn Iraqis Against Voting

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: December 31, 2004


BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 30 (AP) - Three militant groups warned Iraqis on Thursday against voting in the election scheduled for Jan. 30, saying that people taking part in the "dirty farce" risked attack.

The militant group Ansar al-Sunna and two other insurgent groups issued a statement warning that democracy was un-Islamic.

"Democracy is a Greek word meaning the rule of the people, which means that the people do what they see fit," the statement said. "This concept is considered apostasy and defies the belief in one God - Muslims' doctrine."

Ansar al-Sunna had earlier posted a manifesto on its Web site saying democracy amounted to idolizing human beings. The joint statement on Thursday reiterated the threat that "anyone who accepts to take part in this dirty farce will not be safe."

The statements by the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgent groups seemed aimed at countering Shiite leaders' declarations that voting in the election was every Muslim's duty. Shiites, who make up 60 percent of the population, hope to use the vote to wrest political power from the minority Sunnis, who were favored under Saddam Hussein.

Al Jazeera reported that all 700 workers for the electoral commission in Mosul had resigned because they had been threatened. If true, the move would severely hamper efforts to prepare for the vote in Mosul, which has been too dangerous for election preparations to begin.

Farid Ayar, spokesman of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, could not confirm the report. "We have been trying to contact our people in Mosul to see if the report is accurate, but we have not been able to reach them," he said.

The groups' election warning came a day after insurgents in Mosul attacked an American outpost. The military said 25 insurgents and an American were killed in the battle.

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The worldwide outcry at this disgusting display of voter intimidation and abuse of human and civil rights is ... deafening.

*cricket*

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Zilos

This shouldn't be too much of a suprise, well, for some... It will likely only get worse, Bush is so damn stupid in thinking the election will happen without another devistating attack...

-Peace

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MickityMike

When did he say that?

Zilos

Well, I could be wrong, who knows!

Stephanie S.

source WASHINGTON, Dec 20: President George Bush acknowledged on Monday that US-trained Iraqi troops were not ready to take over their country's security and cautioned that next month's elections were not going to be trouble-free.

"I certainly don't expect the process to be trouble-free," Mr Bush told his second news conference since his re-election on Nov 2. Mr Bush availed this end-of-the-year news conference also to outline his next year's agenda, ranging from overhauling America's social security system to the Jan 30 elections in Iraq.

On one point I agree with the neo-cons...there will be increased violence preceding the January "elections" in Iraq. I think we've seen the reports of the dead increasing everyday recently. Of course, death happens in war. Lots of death. Lots of destruction. Lots of innocent people lose loved ones, lose homes, lose everything in war. But its all in the name of DEMOCRACY!
And by gum it's now the job of the United States of America and its volunteer military to secure democracy for those people.

peace

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"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." —George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 (Listen to audio)

 

MickityMike

The reason the violence is increasing is because the former Ba'athists and al-Qaeda terrorists realize that whatever limited amount of legitimacy they now have fighting the occupying Coalition will evaporate once a free Iraqi government is elected. Hence the targeting of innocent Iraqis, including Sunnis: they're trying to violently intimidate the populace. We usually regard this as "wrong."

I'm at a loss to wonder what you'd might rather see done in Iraq? Surely you don't think the deaths would stop if the Coalition left Iraq? What do you think the extremists might do to the civilian population if there were absolutely no one there to stop them?

Stephanie S.

I know.

Yeah, what eggzacly is the US trying to do?


I'd rather see our troops come home. That's what I'd rather see. Now though, I understand that the man, the administration you voted for made such a freaking mess someones gotta clean it up. I guess in the process of fixing their screw up, G-d only knows how many more people will die.

I'm at a loss to wonder, does it not eat you alive, as it does me, that families, children, babies, moms, dads, and their homes have been destroyed?
Does it not bother you that unless the US stays there indefinitely, they will continue the way they have for thousands of years in that corner of the world? Do you think a military can change the thinking of an entire people? Do you honestly think that the US can just wave its bombs and guns and create a Democracy in a land that is for the most part opposed to it? Do you feel good about the fact that this war has created a haven for terrorists and I think, made our country less safe?

peace

MickityMike

I'm not entirely convinced that this is true.

Behold, myopic Leftist melodramatic moral equivalency at it's finest! Bravo.

Only in your twisted world could the implementation of democratic government, in a nation where 80% of the people support elections, constitute a “freaking mess.”

Why is it that you have so much support for Israel’s democracy, yet refuse to support Iraq’s? How many more people must die for Israel’s democracy to live? Wouldn’t it be better if they just bowed to their tyrannical neighbors?

Of course it does – why would you even think of asking such a loaded question? It also concerns me greatly that I’ve already had two close friends wounded in Iraq.

Do you seriously expect anyone to answer any other way? I don’t appreciate the nature of your implication. It’s “questions” like that that quickly reduce a debate to personal attacks.

I’m pretty sure that my position is NOT one of “waving guns and bombs” around mindlessly. Please don’t misrepresent and twist my position so that you may attack it more easily – that’s not only rude, but intellectually dishonest. And you’re flat wrong if you think that most of Iraq is opposed to democracy.

Do you feel good that most of what you just said can be applied to Israel as well? Why your support for Israeli democrats, and not Iraqi? Does not supporting Iraqis who want a better life and a better government make you feel good somehow?

O the irony in ending a post like yours with this. It kills me.

When exactly did the American left stop supporting reformers working against tyranny? What the hell happened?

Herb Ninja

Reformers working against tyranny? Is that the new name for our military?

Actually reform is defined as an action to improve social or economic conditions without radical or revolutionary change.

You say "Please don’t misrepresent and twist my position so that you may attack it more easily – that’s not only rude, but intellectually dishonest." then you go ahead to ask a question that seems to be implying that the "left" does not supporting reformers working against tyranny, instead of saying something that sounds a little more detailed like "Why doesn't the left support the spending of 100's of billions of dollars to occupy and build a country that we invaded under false pretenses and the attempts to make this unstable country peaceful and democratic at the expense of our tax-dollars and our economy?"

Your both being rude and twisting words around. Your trying to vaguely make the left seem completely compassionless, while Stephanie is trying to pull a similar tactic against the right. Anyway thats just what it seems like to me, I could be terribly wrong. Peace, HN-

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MickityMike

The “reformers” that I was speaking about were the Iraqis. A majority want elections, and would like to see it happen very nonviolently, you see. But thanks for the heads-up on what “reform” means.

Correct. I wrote what I wrote to make a point to Steph about just how irritating that is. But thanks for sharing your opinion, and kudos on picking up on it.