Iraq election outcome might not please U.S.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Shiite victory likely to take nation in Islamic direction
Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer

President Bush has been vigorously advocating the Jan. 30 election in war-ravaged Iraq, but is he ready for the consequences?

Should Bush's wish come true, the new Iraqi government that will rise to power probably will bear little resemblance to the Washington-friendly, pro- Western leadership of secular interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, analysts say.

"They will have a Shia-dominated, Islamic-oriented government in Iraq," said Rashid Khalidi, director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University. "Is the United States ready for that?"

Iraq's Shiites make up 60 percent of the country's nearly 26 million people and are more likely to vote in January's election than Sunni Muslims, who represent 20 percent of Iraqis. Most Sunnis live in central Iraq, where raging violence threatens to prevent voters from going to the polls, and leading Sunni clerics have called for a boycott of the election.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/16/MNG80ACOTR1.DTL

[wtmusic]

1. Don't worry, Ken Blackwell's going to run it on Diebold machines...

we got it covered!

[HawkerHurricane]

2. I was about to say...

how could the U.S. be disappointed when our annointed candidate is going to win?

[zanana]

7. If they can rig elections here...

How hard will it be for them to rig elections there? They don't care about violence preventing people from voting, because the outcome has already been decided.

[bobweaver]

3. Isn't that the whole point, that the Iraqi people determine for themselves

what their goverment should be? Does it really matter what the U.S. thinks of it, as long as the election is fair and the Iraqi people are happy with the outcome? Isn't it THEIR OIL? Hell, what if they elected Saddam Hussein for their new president? ((sharp buzzing sound beamed in from GOP satellite)) Oh, wait, sorry, I temporarily forgot - the U.S. owns Iraq - the point is not what the Iraqi people want, it's what the U.S. and particularly what U.S. coroporations want is what really matters. Sorry about that, I temporarily lost my mind there. Scuse me. Ahem. What's good for U.S. corporations is good for the Iraqi people. The oil under Iraq is just the "spoils of war" not the Iraqi people's national treasure. ((soothing chime sound beamed in from GOP satellite, Rove/Wolfowitz/Bremer sit back smiling))

[wtmusic]

4. I'm convinced Iraq will end up in a place

where George Bush will *wish* Saddam was back in power

[Roy]

6. "where George Bush will *wish* Saddam was back in power"

We're months past that point already.

[moondust]

5. Welcome to Iranq. n/t