It's Not Democracy that's on the March in the Middle East
Sunday, March 20, 2005 at 10:00PM
TheSpook
Managed Elections are the Latest Device To Prop Up Pro-Western Regimes The claim that democracy is on the
march in the Middle East is a fraud. It is not democracy, but the US
military, that is on the march. The Palestinian elections in January
took place because of the death of Yasser Arafat - they would have
taken place earlier if the US and Israel hadn't known that Arafat was
certain to win them - and followed a 1996 precedent. The Iraqi
elections may have looked good on TV and allowed Kurdish and Shia
parties to improve their bargaining power, but millions of Iraqis were
unable or unwilling to vote, key political forces were excluded,
candidates' names were secret, alleged fraud widespread, the entire
system designed to maintain US control and Iraqis unable to vote to end
the occupation. They have no more brought democracy to Iraq than
US-orchestrated elections did to south Vietnam in the 1960s and 70s. As
for the cosmetic adjustments by regimes such as Egypt's and Saudi
Arabia's, there is not the slightest sign that they will lead to free
elections, which would be expected to bring anti-western governments to
power. What has actually taken place since 9/11 and the Iraq war is a
relentless expansion of US control of the Middle East, of which the
threats to Syria are a part. The Americans now have a military presence
in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar - and
in not one of those countries did an elected government invite them in.
Of course Arabs want an end to tyrannical regimes, most of which have
been supported over the years by the US, Britain and France: that is
the source of much anti-western Muslim anger. The dictators remain in
place by US licence, which can be revoked at any time - and managed
elections are being used as another mechanism for maintaining
pro-western regimes rather than spreading democracy. [more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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