Dick `Lon` Cheney is off to Baghdad to doubtless bask in the reflected glory of the successful `election ` results. Turnouts of 70% have been reported and the media spin will undoubtedly be better spun than the October referendum results where results of 105% were reported. The Bush cabal is desperately trying to capitalise on the combination of the trial of Saddam Hussein, the elections and the temporary lull in violence. The kidnapped CPT volunteers figure little or nothing in the news and are likely to be as forgotten as the British hostages in Lebanon John McCarthy and Brian Keenan were in the 1980's.
So what do these elections mean? Anything? Do elections ever mean a thing? Typically the only candidates who can run are millionaires backed up by billionaires. Instead of one-man one vote it is more of a case of one dollar one vote – or more like one million dollars one vote. A PR specialist one said that "Give me $20,000,000 and I'll get a brick elected." That seemed to happen in 1980 when thick as a brick Ronald Reagan was elected and again in 2000 when not very bright Bush lost the election by 500,000 votes to Al Gore but the US Supreme Court ruled in his favour.
Gore Vidal, perhaps America's greatest writer talks of the one party two party system meaning there is no real difference between then two US parties, Republican and Democrat. Somewhat more crudely in has been characteried in the US by the epithet `SAME SHIT, DIFFERENT ASSHOLE`.
The two main British parties, Labour and Conservative are virtually the same with Prime Minister Tony Blair's name being an anagram of `I'm Tory Plan B`.
The results of the Iraqi elections will not be known for about 2 weeks but whoever `wins` will be a puppet of the occupation and will have no power to reverse Paul Bremer's orders. Elections held by an occupying power are illegal under the Vienna Convention – something unlikely to trouble the occupying powers.
When I was in Syria, sadly likely to be `next` on the crazies list, I found it all but impossible to explain how democracy works. Tony Blair is seen as a liar by most British people but despite only polling 22% of the electorate won a comfortable victory in this year's election and has the power of a medieval king to attack whoever George Bush tells him to next. In the run up to war some 80-90% of Spaniards and Italians were vigorously against the war yet the governments of these countries sent troops to Iraq in any case.
No British Prime Minister since 1935 has held a majority of the popular vote – the days of "God save the King from Baldwin." That's democracy.
The Iraqi elections got off to a bad start with an attack on the Green Zone and the deaths of 19 people after the polling finished.
Sad to say, the violence in Iraq is far from over. As the Iraqi people say so wisely "The Oil is our curse."
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