Reply #7: Free elections? A free press? [View All]

[Make7]

I don't know about the UN, but here is someone else speaking about that very issue:

Bush said:
All Syrian military forces and intelligence personnel must withdraw before the Lebanese elections, for those elections to be free and fair. The elections in Lebanon must be fully and carefully monitored by international observers. The Lebanese people have the right to determine their future, free from domination by a foreign power. The Lebanese people have the right to choose their own parliament this spring, free of intimidation.

Source: President Discusses War on Terror

Perhaps he could explain how this does not apply to Iraq. The administration even hailed the elections as a success precisely because Iraqis came out despite the intimidation of the "terrorists". But still it was "free"?

There is so much information about how the elections were not free, that I don't even want to start. But, at the very least, I figure that the president should be able to live up to the standards he sets for others.

Iraq sets up committee to impose restrictions on news reporting by Nicolas Pelham, July 27, 2004:

Iyad Allawi, Iraq's prime minister, has established a media committee to impose restrictions on print and broadcast media, a government official announced yesterday. The step underlines an aggressive new attitude towards press freedoms, in spite of US efforts to nurture independent media.

Ibrahim Janabi, appointed to head the new Higher Media Commission, told the FT the restrictions - known as "red lines" - had yet to be finalised, but would include unwarranted criticism of the prime minister. He singled out last Friday's sermon by Moqtada al-Sadr, a firebrand Shia cleric, who mocked Mr Allawi as America's "tail".

Outlets that broadcast the sermon could be banned, he said.

The formation of Mr Janabi's committee appears to mark a step back from Washington's democratic vision for postwar Iraq.

Source: Financial Times

Apparently the press is free to agree with the government. If they don't, they could be banned.

---

Freedom is on the march.

:) Make7