Oh yeah and

[prog]

Sixty percent turnout in Iraq, man. This may be good. Actually. I am hoping for the best, because I can, and how often do I get the chance, anyway...?

Comments

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

Having the election and having a decent turnout is nice and all but I get the feeling all the candidates were carefully selected/screened by the US so that it might not matter who anyone voted for -- maybe I'm wrong about this. I haven't looked into it at all -- it just seems like the way things are done nowadays.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure... there are (rather infamously) a whole lot of different candidates, from as many parties. Their platforms on, say, the U.S. occupation range from the current interim-president/puppet's embrace to more hardline (and maybe more popular) kick-em-out stances.

A cynic would go on to question who's doing the counting, but really, this is way out of my league. I'm just left to root for the good guys. Whoever they are.

[pseudomanitou.livejournal.com]

The fact that the turnout was so high, but somewhat one-sided between Sunni and Shia, leaves me with two concerns.

One - this could hint at a coming civil war between Sunni and Shia.

Two - the high election turnout may have been due to a hope that, if the election was successful, American forces would pull out.

Now, of course, there are other concerns: did conservative Americans rig the election, is the candidate that Iraqis (hopefully) elect qualified to do anything, will this next government be able to avoid assassination, what will Bush do should a government emerge that is based on Islam, and on and on and on... but that's all to come later.

But right now, my concern is will there be a war between the Iraqi people, or will the Iraqi people turn on American forces and interests the second they feel a sense of solidarity.