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Iraq Dispatches: The Dark Cloud of Democracy, by Dahr Jamail

** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **

Here is the latest post in the 'Forum' section of my website, an
excellent analysis of current events in Al-Anbar, written by Andrew
Stromotich:

October 08, 2005

*The Dark Cloud of Democracy*

On Saturday morning, October 2nd, hours after the Pentagon officially
launched ‘Operation Iron Fist’, the Associated Press reported,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051001/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq “About 1,000
U.S. troops, backed by attack helicopters, swarmed into a tiny Iraqi
village near the Syrian border Saturday in an offensive aimed at rooting
out fighters from al-Qaida in Iraq, the country’s most feared militant
group, the military said.”

Being a Syrian border town, Sadah has been a target of U.S. assaults
before. This weekend however, was major – 1,000 troops moved on this
little village of 2,000 men, women and children.

The most sophisticated (which simply means most deadly) military in the
world has sent 1,000 troops, backed warplanes and helicopters, to enter
and occupy the hamlet of Sadah, and is going door to door, raiding what
homes were left standing after the air assault, apparently hunting for
‘insurgents’. Although it is uncertain what they will find in Sadah,
what they have brought is clear. Death and destruction on a massive
scale have come to yet another town in the so-called ‘Sunni Triangle’.

Troops involved in the siege on this rural enclave, were backed by
warplanes, such as the C-130 Specter
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/ac-130.htm, which hovers over
its target, circling and hammering those on the ground with 105 mm
rapid-fire cannons directed by it’s sophisticated computer tracking
systems, and helicopters such as the Apache, which has turned humans
into mincemeat http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/APA401A.html with
its 90 mm cannons and assortment of rockets.

“Sadah is a village of about 2,000 people on the banks of the Euphrates
River about eight miles from the Syrian border in Iraq’s western
province of Anbar. The isolated community has one main road and about
200 houses scattered over a rural area,” the AP reports.

However, AP does not report why the U.S. was unable to take advantage of
Sadah’s isolation to quarantine and search this village without razing
it (A much more humane approach to this ‘humanitarian’ mission to bring
democracy to Iraq and its people).

Other important facts about the siege also remain unreported. How long
did this air assault last before U.S. troops entered the village? How
many homes were destroyed? How many people were killed? How many arms
and militants were found in this rural hamlet?

The AP further reports, “U.S. forces closed off Sadah. Ammar
Al-Marsoomi, a doctor at a hospital in Al-Qa’im, 13 miles from the
village, said initial reports indicated that two Iraqis were wounded in
Saturday’s assault.”

Choosing a doctor in a different town (Al-Qa’im) to comment on
casualties in what AP reports as the closed town of Sadah, is odd.
Cities under US siege, such as Falluja
http://www.lookatentertainment.com/v/v-574.htm last year, were closed
to all traffic while under U.S. attack. Journalist
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3986085.stm, aid workers
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/443C3B4E-C2D2-4B18-9C5C-7C9B657A8DCF.htm,
civilians
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=siege_of_falluja&id=falluja_boy2,
and casualties inclusive
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=siege_of_falluja&id=windshield,
were barred from entrance or exit, making it near impossible to report
accurately on casualties.

The doctor AP relies on to register comment with respect to civilian
casualties is said to rely on ‘initial reports’, which indicates only
two civilians were injured during this massive assault. These figures
are left unquestioned or explained by AP, with no mention of source of
the report, leaving the reader with more questions than answers. Was
this a U.S. military initial report of civilian casualties, or perhaps
this figure relates to hospital casualty reports in Al-Qa’im, 13
kilometers down the only road out of the closed city? In any case,
without further explanation by AP, it becomes impossible for the reader
to gauge the legitimacy of this claim, therefore making it unreliable at
best, and possibly misleading.

So another village in Anbar province is occupied
http://www.almendhar.com/english_6176/news.aspx by American troops and
their Iraqi counterparts, only weeks before a referendum on a
constitution the U.S. is desperate to see succeed. It is a referendum
that could fail in Anbar province and other Sunni dominated areas, as
well as in the volatile South, which last week saw citizens attack
British Troops who had stormed the Basra city jail freeing two British
soldiers being held.

The soldiers, dressed in civilian Iraqi clothes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1573896,00.html, were
arrested after a fire-fight erupted, as a group of Iraqi policemen
approached their car. Two policemen were killed, and the two disguised
soldiers were arrested and sent to the Basra prison for investigation
and charge. British troops lay siege upon the Iraqi police, disrupting
any further investigation into the actions of these two. A civilian riot
broke out in Basra, in which U.K. tanks were stacked with tires and set
alight. With the U.K. now accusing the police of corruption and calling
for a complete overhaul of the forces, and populist Shia leader Muqtada
Al Sadr stating his belief that U.K. troops are involved in terrorist
activity, the south to is destabilizing rapidly, leaving in question the
legitimacy of any vote held under these conditions.

In western Iraq, it would take only three of the four Sunni dominated
provinces returning with a no vote to defeat this master document of the
new Iraq. On October 4th, while attacks by U.S. troops were underway in
these very provinces, a bold move to ensure passage of the proposed
constitution by making a no return a near mathematical impossibility,
was imposed by the National Assembly. The Assembly decided to redefine
internationally accepted electoral standards, by making counts of votes
dependent upon voter registration, rather than voter turnout, which
simply means 100% voter turnout would be needed for a legitimate result
(a fantasy in even the most peaceful of democracies).

The assembly, under extreme criticism from a U.N. unable to legitimize
such an obviously flawed vote, and under threat of boycott from a
frustrated Sunni leadership, reversed the measure, and the conventional
interpretation of voter was restored.

Although this leaves the impression of a restored integrity, the
referendum was already tipped heavily in favor of the draft becoming
resolution. The government of Iraq, elected in the most undemocratic of
fashions (candidates and party platforms were announced after the vote),
had decided that a mere majority vote against this draft would not be
enough for its defeat in any province. In fact, under the rules of this
referendum, more than two of every three participating voters would have
to vote against this draft to see a veto registered.

This system makes a veto in most provinces highly unlikely. Only those
able to muster significant political solidarity have the ability to
defeat this draft under this interpretive system of vote counting. What
these voting rules have done is allow U.S. forces to direct the brunt of
their actions against those provinces that could actually register a
veto, which are those dominated by a Sunni majority, such as Anbar.

In Anbar province, currently under siege from the largest U.S. offensive
of the year, where all indications have been predicting a negative vote,
the probability that even 67% of voters will be able to make it to the
poles is unlikely
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album38&id=YCC4.
In Sadah and other civilian centers under siege in Anbar, occupation
will remain in the ruins of these campaigns, with heavily armed soldiers
and National Guardsmen left to control security for a referendum they
want to see passed.

The constitution, if implemented, paves the way for succession of
territories, leading the way to an oil rich Kurdistan in the North, a
southern Shia state also controlling great oil wealth, and a western
area, war torn and without resources, left for Sunnis to rebuild after a
brutal and heavily damaging occupation.

As the U.S. continues its campaign in Western Iraq, and as questions
about U.K. involvement in terrorism in the South continue to grow, the
impossibilities of democracy under occupation are highlighted. Next
weekend's vote on the future of Iraq further illustrates the perversions
to democracy that have recently been envisioned by a U.S. administration
that itself gained power under this dark cloud that now looks to
envelope and dissect Iraq. All that stands in its way is the resolve of
a highly terrorized constituent, a constituent that is asked to register
its opinion under the watchful eye of a security force that recently
razed their communities. In Anbar, as in other provinces, it doesn’t
take a great leap of reasoning to know that a vote against the
referendum is a vote against the occupation, an occupation intent on
pushing it through.

Andrew Stromotich is an independent journalist, documentary filmmaker,
and founding member of dropframe communications. He can be reached at
pumo@shaw.ca

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More writing, commentary, photography, pictures and images at http://dahrjamailiraq.com

posted by Annamarie at 3:44 PM