generalspeaking

"By All Legitimate Means Possible..."

Civil society in Iraq, comprised of ordinary men and women and their families continue to hold out hope that theirs will eventually be a civil society.

It doesn't seem too much to hope for, after all. And it's possible the country is on its way to achieving just that, but hopes can be deceiving in the face of realities that continue to see suicide bomb attacks, and candidates for office with bankrupt morals, officials well known for the scale of the corruption they engage in, and the virtual shut-out of the large Sunni population.

There is the incumbent, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, once a Shia Islamist guerrilla, now a nationalist. And there's Ahmad Chalabi, formerly favoured by the U.S. State Department, now cozy with militant, Iranian-backed Shia groups. Not that al-Maliki doesn't view Iran with favour. And the "minister of civil war", Finance Minister Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi, involved with the uniformed death squads, while interior minister.

The Shia-led and Kurd-supported government plans to continue to represent the country's interests, whether or not those interests encompass the reasonable aspirations of the Sunni population as well. The incendiary hatreds expressed so vehemently and with viciously deadly effect between Shia and Sunni factions through the death squads that some officials were directly implicated with, may not recur, but a simmering resentment between religious factions does not bode well for the future of the country.

Nor does the very real influence that the Shia-majority country next door exercises. And then there's the little matter of other influences; whether the country will shrug off those candidates modelling themselves after western-style democracies, or revert to religious conservatism which will lead inexorably to a fundamentalist Islamist state, well suited to good terms with its neighbour, Iran.

The almost-20-million eligible voters have a number of options, with a field of about 6,200 candidates, some representing the current government, others representing tribal confederations, but none of them with any involvement in the past with the Baath Party of the late Saddam Hussein. As in most Middle East election proceedings, votes can and will be bought. With candidates impressing voters with their suitability for office by offering them guns, blankets, cash, and appliances.

And the country's security police remain on high alert, having defused two car bombs in the city centre, others bombs found hidden in television sets, (presumably not those television sets being offered as bribes-for-votes) and having to cope with two near-simultaneous suicide vehicle bombs which blasted the provincial housing department's offices, along with a nearby traffic intersection.

Rather horrifically, a bomber dressed in police uniform accompanied bomb-wounded victims in an ambulance on its way to hospital, where he proceeded to present his credentials by detonating himself along with 33 other people. "We have decided to prevent the elections by all legitimate means possible, primarily by military means" communicated al-Qaeda-in-Iraq leader Baghdadi.

Now isn't that positively quaint? "...by all legitimate means possible, primarily by military means"; priceless, precious beyond belief.

Labels: Middle East, Traditions, Troublespots

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, March 04, 2010