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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraq polls can't occur amid current violence - U.N. envoy |
| 2004-12-04 |
| It would be impossible to hold elections in Iraq in January if the security situation remains as precarious as it is, U.N. adviser Lakhdar Brahimi told a Dutch newspaper in an interview published on Saturday. How nice of the UN to decide when Iraq can hold elections. As if the UN has any part of turning Iraq into a decent country. "Elections are no magic potion, but part of a political process. They must be prepared well and take place at the right time to produce the good effects that you expect from them," Brahimi, architect of the political process leading to elections in Iraq, told NRC Handelsblad. Given how much the Indians like to blow each other up, maybe we should be occupying them, as clearly they aren't ready either. Asked if it was possible to hold elections as conditions exist now, Brahimi said: "If the circumstances stay as they are, I personally don't think so. It is a mess in Iraq. The international community, hopefully together with the Americans, must help the Iraqis to clean up this mess. If you let it deteriorate, the situation will become even more dangerous." In the latest strike against Iraq's shaky security forces, twin suicide car bombs blew up outside a police station near Baghdad's Green Zone on Saturday, killing at least three people and wounding more than 40. Many among Iraq's 20 percent Sunni Arab minority -- from which the insurgency draws the core of its support -- have called for a delay in the elections, saying that violence in Sunni areas will prevent the polls being free and fair. Sunni Arabs, who dominated Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule, fear they will be marginalised in the new Iraq, as the 60 percent Shi'ite majority exercises new found political clout. Shi'ites insist the elections should go ahead on time, arguing that any delay would be a surrender to terrorism. Iraq's Kurds in the north say they are ready for elections, but would accept a delay if others wanted it. You know, we'll take the UN seriously when they actual do something other than involve themselves in the worst vices of humanity. I guess that means never though. Hatip - Drudge |
| Posted by:Silentbrick |
| #2 I would rather see the US spend the money it contributes to the UN on something useful like building a new wing on the Lawrence Welk museum than for paying the salary of dolts like this. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-12-04 11:56:11 PM |
| #1 Who elected the UN? |
| Posted by: ed 2004-12-04 11:23:41 PM |