IRAQ PREZ: CHAOS & VACUUM OF POWER

So, Iraq has its big election and we're all supposed to rejoice because despite the fact that no WMD was found, as many as 100,000 Iraq civilians are dead and Osama is still out there, Iraq was able to do something legitimately democratic. (I forgot to mention all the laws the Bush 43 Admin broke to invade a sovereign nation.)

One success in a country of chaos does not a victory make.

Nor does it make all that was lost worth it.

Compound this with interim Iraqi President Ghazi Yawer telling us that the USMil needs to stay in Iraq for a while longer because of "this chaos" and "this vacuum of power" according to an article at News.BBC.co.uk.

Oh yeah, and I'm sure the USMil wields a LOT of power over that chaos--oh WAIT--that chaos came to exist under the USMil... will Iraq EVER be able to deal with that mess if even the USMil can't pacify it? Is Iraq going to simply be a cousin of Israel? (How's THAT for Irony??) Will the USGov be giving Iraq yearly stipends for the next 50-60 years?

By the way, according to the CIA factbook's page on Israel, said country got an estimated $662 million from us in 2003. (Please correct me if I've misread the CIA's factbook.) My understanding is that they have been getting $50 million a year since Israel was founded in 1948. (Again, please correct me if I'm mistaken--I've been over this with a Jewish friend of mine who was in Israel during the six day war, but I may have mis-remembered things...)

Anyway, the point is, it seems to me that since even the existing Iraqi government is saying they need America to stay and since we created the mess they're in, when will we ever be able really leave?

Read the original BBC article. If the link has gone bad, check out page 2 of this post.From News.BBC.co.uk :

Last Updated: Tuesday, 1 February, 2005, 20:22 GMT

Iraq rules out US troop pullout

Iraq's interim President Ghazi Yawer has rejected the withdrawal of foreign troops until Iraq's own forces are ready to take over security duties.

President Yawer said it was "complete nonsense" to ask coalition troops to leave Iraq in the midst of "this chaos" and "this vacuum of power".

But he also said the number of foreign troops could be reduced by year-end.

The president also highlighted problems with Sunday's election, saying tens of thousands of people were denied a vote.

Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission has begun the final count of votes, with the result not expected for several days.

The overall election turnout has been estimated at about 60% of registered voters, with some eight million Iraqis voting.

Almost 94% of more than a million Iraqis living abroad who were registered to vote cast their ballot, said the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which was appointed by Iraq's electoral commission.

It appeared higher numbers of Sunnis than expected turned out to vote.

But President Yawer said Mosul, Iraq's mainly Sunni third city, ran out of ballot papers twice and had to be supplied with more.

"Also, tens of thousands were unable to cast their votes because of the lack of ballots in Basra, Baghdad, and Najaf," he said.

The question now is how many Sunnis voted - and, regardless of the figure, whether they can be brought into the new government and the committee writing the new constitution, says the BBC's Paul Wood in Baghdad.

On Monday, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi appealed for Iraqi citizens to unite.

Mr Allawi vowed to begin "a new national dialogue", saying Iraqis should set aside their differences.

Iraqi unity

Like President Yawer, Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan has moved to dampen any expectations of a quick withdrawal by American and British troops.

The US pulling out of Iraq involved great danger, he said.

"They will leave when security is stabilised and there is a strong army and police force."

Earlier, the Bush administration in Washington stressed that there was still much to do before Iraqi forces would be able to assume responsibility for security throughout the country.

President Yawer had also called for foreign militants to leave Iraq and take their holy war elsewhere.

But the latest statement from the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the elections would only increase their determination to defeat what he called "the evil of democracy".

The Iraqi government knows the militants are still here after the election, just as they were before, and the government still needs the coalition, our correspondent says.

© BBC MMV