the Greater Nomadic Council

Juan Cole on the Iraqi Election

As usual, Juan Cole has a highly informative post giving the details and a reasoned analysis of the recent election. Since I have not been able to obsessively follow all the stories like I was once able to, these paragraphs took me a bit by surprise:

With all the hoopla, it is easy to forget that this was an extremely troubling and flawed "election." Iraq is an armed camp. There were troops and security checkpoints everywhere. Vehicle traffic was banned. The measures were successful in cutting down on car bombings that could have done massive damage. But even these Draconian steps did not prevent widespread attacks, which is not actually good news. There is every reason to think that when the vehicle traffic starts up again, so will the guerrilla insurgency.

The Iraqis did not know the names of the candidates for whom they were supposedly voting. What kind of an election is anonymous! There were even some angry politicians late last week who found out they had been included on lists without their permission. Al-Zaman compared the election process to buying fruit wholesale and sight unseen. (This is the part of the process that I called a "joke," and I stand by that.)

The stoppage of vehicle traffic seems like a necessary step to assure even a modicum of safety for voters, but Cole makes the perfectly logical point that the insurgency's failure to make a real dent in the election process does not mean the battle is even close to over. What is far, far more disturbing though is the fact that nobody knew who they were voting for. What kind of election is that? Would you vote for your president based only on party affiliation? Although that's how the vast majority of Americans do end up voting, at least they have the illusion of voting for the man rather than the party. In some cases it might actually be true (Reagan and Clinton both having had significant crossover appeal). I understand that potential violence almost required most of the candidates to run anonymously, but it's not as if Iraq is going to be run by some faceless shadow government (is it?). The Iraqi people will eventually know who their leaders are, so the desire for anonymity during the election itself seems a bit misguided at best. Of course, I suppose it's better than nothing, hence all the cheering in Iraq and in the American news media.