it seems viceroy bremer still hasn't nailed down that contract with diebold to make sure that the elections go his way:
Iraqi census officials devised a detailed plan to count the country's entire population next summer and prepare a voter roll that would open the way to national elections in September. But American officials say they rejected the idea, and the Iraqi Governing Council members say they never saw the plan to consider it.The practicality of national elections is now the subject of intense debate among Iraqi and American officials, who are trying to move forward on a plan to give Iraqis sovereignty next summer. As the American occupation officials rejected the plan to compile a voter roll rapidly, they also argued to the Governing Council that the lack of a voter roll meant national elections were impractical.
The American plan for Iraqi sovereignty proposes instead a series of caucus-style, indirect elections.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential Shiite cleric, is calling for national elections next June, not the indirect balloting specified in the American plan for turning over control of the country. But American officials, and some Iraqis say the nation is not ready for national elections, in part because the logistics are too daunting.
so, let me get this straight. you can't have elections because you don't have a voter roll, but you don't have a voter roll because the us said that you couldn't do it? way to go, occupying power! flexing those tentacles, i see.
it's all about the timetable. you can hold caucuses in june, but this voter roll wouldn't be ready until next september. that's cutting right into the republican national convention. gotta have something to campaign on with regards to iraq, because by next year, all of this 'b-b-but the schools' bluster is going to be played out completely. and you'd think they'd want to have a census anyway. that might be, oh, useful.
but if there's one thing i ask of this administration, it's this: please don't go pissing off the shia. please. because if you do, it's going to be really, really bad.
Posted by kilgore at December 4, 2003 10:30 PM | TrackBack