Two Years Ago
Iraq nowdays December 16th, 2007On December 15th, 2005, a nice play was pulled out, it was called "The Elections". Its was a kind of mixed up tragedy and comedy.
An example of the tragedies that happened was told to me by a close friend of mine who was the head of the Mosul office of the Higher Comissionary of Election in Iraq. I will tell you the story as it was told to me:
"On the election day and after the end of the election hours, the safe boxes of the votes were supposed to be brought to us by the heads of the election centers all around Mosul and under the protection of the kurdish militia 'Beshmarga'. I called the head of the beshmarga in Mosul to ask if they were ready to accompany our people to the Comissionary office of Mosul. He said that they have got orders not to interfere with the election whatsoever. And they will not protect the boxes nor the staff. There was no way that I would let my people come with the boxes unprotected by some kind of military force. So, I called the head of the Iraqi army in Mosul and asked him to call the american troops to escort my people down here. I did that for two reasons, first I did not want the Iraqi army in Mosul to be a part of the operation because at that time there were doubts in their loyalty. And second, I did not have the phone number of the leaders of the american troops in Mosul.
Anyway, a couple of hours later, humvees came with american troops and Iraqi national guards. And the safe transparent voting boxes were neither safe nor transparent. The original boxes were replaced with plastic and paper boxes like the ones we use in Iraq to carry tomato..!!!
No box was locked as it should have been, and no registration papers or counts for the people who voted were there.
I got crazy and I yaled at every one. I told the americans and the Iraqi national guards that I will not admit these boxes. Goddamn it I will ask for a re-do to all the elections in Mosul.
After about 30-minutes of yaling. The head of the Iraqi army in Mosul came with few of his people and I told him what was the problem. A few minutes later, a US army officer came along with an officer in the iraqi national guards and said that they will arrest me because I am hampering the democratic process and risking the security of Mosul..!!!
The head of the Iraqi army there pulled me aside to talk to me and he whispered that he will take me in an Iraqi military vehicle now to Baghdad to my house and will not let them arrest me. And that what he did. He distracted the other guys and sent two of his soldiers with me in a military car accompanied by two other military cars filled with soldier to take me home in Baghdad. I reached Baghdad after midnight.
What happened after I left Mosul is that my deputy acknowledged the receipt of the boxes and the counting was done. And guess what, most of Mosul turned out to be kurdish..???!!!
In the morning I went to the Elections Comissionary central office and I made a big fuzz about what happened and I asked to re-do the elections in Mosul and yesterday's votes were illegal and therefore should not be included in the vote count. After I calmed down, one of the Comissioners(which I will not reveal his name), came to my office and said:
You are still young, and you have just got your first baby few months ago. Mind your own business and don't jeopardize yourself and your family.
So, I swallowed my pride and left the comissionary and the whole country."
Many stories similar to that took place in different parts of the country like Anbar, Najaf, Baghdad, Basrah, and other provinces. And even outside Iraq. As I was in Amman in that period, I met some guys working there in the elections staff and told me about the unbelievable things that took place there. Basically, most of the votes of Amman were going to Ayad Allawi, but instead they were divided between Al-Hakim and the kurds.
Long live the Iraqi people, long live the democracy..
Now we will come to the Comedy part of the elections. The hilarious part is when the group of as*hole goes on TV and say that "We are an elected government, we represent the Iraqi people's will". Or when Al-Hashimi says "We do not accept to be marginalized , we demand our electoral rights in the representation in the government".
Long live the imported democracy..
December 17th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Hi Blog Iraqi,
Welcome back to the world of blogging.
There were certainly many irregularities with the last nationwide elections, and I don’t hold out much hope that the upcoming election will be much better.
Some believe, naively I think, that the Iraqis this time around will elect a secular government - American saying: I’ll believe it, when I see it. LOL.
What are your thoughts about the possibility of Iraqis electing a secular government?
And no doubt about it - that last election was a big disaster for the Iraqi people. The idea of lists rather than parties or candidates, and the lack of geographical representation is a major flaw, that really should be changed.
And I have to ask you, because everyone non-Iraqi probably asks you this, has Baghdad improved at all since the “surge?” Have things gotten better for you?
Take Care.
Mister Ghost
December 18th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Hi Mr.Ghost,
I don’t believe that the next elections will be better than the last one by any means. This is due to widely spread corruption and no real reform is happening neither in election system nor the government. The electoral system is way too corrupted to represent the true will of the Iraqi people. And in a situation like the one in Iraq now, even the people’s will is not built on thorough thinking of the best choice for the government. The votes might go to a secular government as you have said.
The problem is that ALL the “politicians” in Iraq now want this sectarian enthusiasm to go on. This is due to the fact that the politicians existence is tied to that. Because no one of them is a true politician with a clear agenda and plan.
What would Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim be if he is not the representative of Shiaa??? NOTHING
What would Adnan Al-Dulaimi be if he is not the representative of Sunnis?? NOTHING
And this goes to all the others. No one of them is worth to vote for. Thats why I went to the elections two years ago and voted for no one. Because I support the democratic progress, but there is no one really worth to vote for.
Regarding the situation in Iraq now, deaths are lower, thats true. But this is not cause by the security progress, this is cause by the fact that all Shiaa in Baghdad now know the dangerous Sunni neighborhoods and avoid them, and all the Sunnis know the Shiaa neighborhoods and avoid them. Until this moment, if a Sunni goes to Al-Hurria or Shu’la will be massacred, and the same goes for Shiaa going to Al-Jame’aa neighborhood. And the same goes for everywhere in Baghdad. Only few neighborhoods are relatively safe for both, like Karrada, Jadirya and Mansour.
One more note that is worth to mention. A very large number of Iraqis left Baghdad last June after the end of the final exams of their children. Most of them went to Syria. Three months later, they were out of money and their residence becomes unofficial after three motnhs. So, the came back to Iraq. The people who came back were no refugees coming back because life is better now in Iraq. Its people who have no money and no shelter anymore.
December 20th, 2007 at 11:27 am
[…] have referred to this earlier. Tis is true for most of the people going back to Iraq. I guarantee you, if you give them a place […]
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:27 am
anybody who thinks the election process is fair and transparent is crazy. have you looked at the state that ‘turned’ the last election for bush? ohio 04? or what happened in florida. these neonuts don’t mess around. they get the results they want come high or highwater. they have taken over. period.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Yes annie. And that is happening in America itself, so how would things go in a such disturbed atmosphere as the one in Iraq?