Time to Vote!
About the time we all get home from work tonight we'll start hearing about the Iraqi elections. They've already started early voting, and tomorrow they being actual voting, about 32 months after we kicked out Saddam. This will be their third round of elections this year.
If you wonder how successful that is, Germany surrendered in May, 1945, and elected it's first Parliment in August 1949, over four years later! Japan's full 'Treaty of Peace' after WWII wasn't even signed until 1951, and they regained full sovereignty on April 28, 1952, 6 and half years after the war.
I'm not saying things have been perfect, or that they will be for this election. There has been some pre-election violence against some of the political parties running. But this is the most inclusive round of elections to date. Even most of the major opposition Sunni clerics have told their followers to vote. They realize that working in the framework of the consitution, with an elected body will be to their advantage.
I pointed out Germany and Japan because we forget that things are moving fast in Iraq, despite the MSM and most of the far left's grumbling. They didn't give much play earlier this year to Bosnian complaints that the recovery and elections in their country are going very slow. Bosnia, wasn't that like, 10 years ago? Yup, and they still don't have a fully functioning government, and the US troops are still there, and in Kosvo.
Approving a constitution, and two government elections in this timeframe are unheard of. But the 24 hour news cycle makes everything seem slow. We've gotten used to seeing a story on the TV before work, and when we get home some other story has replaced it. Thank God CNN, MSNBC and FOX weren't around in 1941, we'd have never made it through WWII.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, politics and opinion
Tracked back to Iraq the Model, read his incredible (first hand) account of waiting to vote.
If you wonder how successful that is, Germany surrendered in May, 1945, and elected it's first Parliment in August 1949, over four years later! Japan's full 'Treaty of Peace' after WWII wasn't even signed until 1951, and they regained full sovereignty on April 28, 1952, 6 and half years after the war.
I'm not saying things have been perfect, or that they will be for this election. There has been some pre-election violence against some of the political parties running. But this is the most inclusive round of elections to date. Even most of the major opposition Sunni clerics have told their followers to vote. They realize that working in the framework of the consitution, with an elected body will be to their advantage.
I pointed out Germany and Japan because we forget that things are moving fast in Iraq, despite the MSM and most of the far left's grumbling. They didn't give much play earlier this year to Bosnian complaints that the recovery and elections in their country are going very slow. Bosnia, wasn't that like, 10 years ago? Yup, and they still don't have a fully functioning government, and the US troops are still there, and in Kosvo.
Approving a constitution, and two government elections in this timeframe are unheard of. But the 24 hour news cycle makes everything seem slow. We've gotten used to seeing a story on the TV before work, and when we get home some other story has replaced it. Thank God CNN, MSNBC and FOX weren't around in 1941, we'd have never made it through WWII.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, politics and opinion
Tracked back to Iraq the Model, read his incredible (first hand) account of waiting to vote.
posted by Crazy Politico at 4:23 AM
5Comments:
Some good points. I posted about Iraq today also and highlighted the positives.
Most soldiers coming back from Iraq say that we are winning. Most of the news is good, but most of the reported news is not good.
Sad thing is, if/when Iraq becomes a functional democracy, the Left will somehow try to claim credit for it.
It's going to be interesting to wake up tomorrow and hear how the voting/violence was at the start of the election.
Ashe, I agree that the MSM is generally biased in one way or another. If you use multiple sources of different bents, you can usually make out the real story.
Steven, I believe that the Sunni Clerics urging people to participate is the most underreported part of this vote. It gets a couple of seconds, at most of air time. While their idea of NOT voting in January was covered extensively.
Iraq and Lebanon were very stable, secular countries for a number of years before the Ba'athists from Syria decided to get involved in their politic.
Lebanon is trying to get back to that on their own mostly, since the UN is scared to offend Syria.
Both can be successful, if they can keep the dog next door from crapping in their yards.
Well, again I would just say that in the past day or two I've heard and read stories about the Sunni clerics encouraging followers to vote. Is it a glaring headline? Not in the Washington Post, but then the Post has an excellent op-ed today by a Major in the Marine Corps which lays out a good case for being strong on Iraq.
The truth is, both sides feel the media is biased against them. See Eric Alterman's book "What Liberal Bias?" Both sides can't be right in their paranoia. It's more reasonable to think that the bias is pretty evenly distributed...or mostly non-existent.
Then there is my argument, which is that if people are smart enough to see through the bias (which I believe they are), then what's the big deal? It's like a German citizen complaining that the news he gets from Goebbals is biased. Of course it is! And if you recognize that it's biased, go listen to the BBC on your crystal radio or, in our day, read a conservative blog and make up your mind for yourself.
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