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Features > February 2, 2004

Devil in the Details

By Naomi Klein

“The people of Iraq are free,” declared U.S. President George W. Bush in his State of the Union speech. The day before, 100,000 Iraqis begged to differ. They took to the streets of Baghdad shouting “Yes, yes to elections. No, no to selection.”

According to Iraq occupation chief Paul Bremer, there really is no difference between the White House’s version of freedom and the one being demanded on the street by supporters of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. It was, he said, a mere quibble over details. “I don’t want to go into the technical details of refinements,” he said. “There are—if you talk to experts in these matters—all kinds of ways to organize partial elections and caucuses. And I’m not an election expert, so I don’t want to go into the details.”

I’m not an election expert either, but I’m pretty sure there are differences here that cannot be refined. Al-Sistani’s supporters want every Iraqi to have a vote and for the people they elect to write the laws of the country—your basic, imperfect, representative democracy.

Bremer wants his Coalition Provisional Authority to appoint the members of 18 regional Organizing Committees. The Organizing Committees will then select delegates to form 18 Selection Caucuses. These selected delegates will then further select representatives to a Transitional National Assembly. The Assembly will have an internal vote to select an executive and ministers who will form the new government of Iraq. This, Bush said in the State of the Union, constitutes “a transition to full Iraqi sovereignty.”

Got that? Iraqi sovereignty will be established by appointees appointing appointees to select appointees to select appointees. Add to that the fact that Bremer was appointed to his post by President Bush and that Bush was appointed to his by the U.S. Supreme Court, and you have the glorious new democratic tradition of the Appointocracy: rule by appointee’s appointee’s appointees’ appointees’ appointees’ selectees.

Naomi Klein is a columnist for In These Times, the British Guardian and The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper and the author of No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies.

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  • Reader Comments

    buya!

    Posted by I on Feb 2, 2004 at 1:18 PM

    “Add to that the fact that Bremer was appointed to his post by President Bush and that Bush was appointed to his by the U.S. Supreme Court...”

    Remember: You only need one less vote than the other guy to win!

    Posted by Ed Mellon on Feb 2, 2004 at 2:46 PM

    Iraq, Schmeraq!!! What ingrates those people are, after we bless them with the wonderful gift of the freedom of our superior civilization. Talk about “biting the hand that feeds you” those folks have got some gall. Here we spent 10 years starving them to death with our boycott and instead of welcoming us with open arms after we free them from tyranny, they spit in our faces!! Well, I say if they won’t take democracy on our terms than we’ll just give them a good ole’ Amerkin whopping with some WMD of our own! That’ll learn them to mess with us!!

    Anyway, Iraq is a waste of our President’s precious time. The most important thing Mr. President W. Bush needs to do now is appoint a commission to investigate and find out who was responsible for Janet Jackson’s brea-t and nipp-e violating the sanctity of the American Family home and hearth on our national holiday of Superbowl Day. We need to be sure that our Homeland, the Homeland that God blesses above all others, is protected from WPMD: Wardrobes Promoting Moral Destruction. If a Federal investigation finds that Janet Jackson exposed herself on purpose, she should be sent to Guantanamo for an indefinite period and condemned to wear one of those orange suits and black bags over her head. That’ll put the fear of God in her and learn her how to dress and comport herself in public. My Lord, what is this world coming to when a family can’t watch football in their own home and be free from attack by immoral sinners bent on destroying our culture and our Amerkin Way of Life. God Bless our President in his fight to rid our Homeland and Our World of such evil people!! Amen!! 

    Posted by DalÌ on Feb 3, 2004 at 4:36 AM

    Klein’s article on “Devil in the details” really strikes me as one of the best summations of what is wrong with dubya (shrub, really!)and his so-called presidency.  He and his thugs are sending our once-democratic nation down the tubes at an astonishing rate, and are now attempting to do the same in the Middle East!

    Posted by Alan Taylor on Feb 3, 2004 at 10:20 AM

    But. wil he fool the people twice?  Bush/PNAC fooled the nation and took us to war with their lies and deceptions.  Shame on them. But, if the country doesn’t wake up after all that has been revealed....the onus will be on the people.  Fool me once...shame on you, Fool me twice.....well, you know…

    FOOL ME TWICE (SHAME ON ME!)
    A MESSAGE TO THE BUSH/PNAC ADMINISTRATION
    FROM TVNEWSLIES

    I really have to hand it to you guys ñ you won the first round with flying colors!  It took a major tragedy to set you up, but, boy did you ever pull it off!  Timing is everything, I suppose, and you PNAC folk were right on cue.  You jumped in at the right moment and rang all the alarm bells. There was no time to lose, you told us.  We were in terrible danger, you told us.  We were on the verge of being nuked, anthraxed, and smallpoxed, you told us. We were in imminent danger, you told us.  You were good. You were damn convincing.  And a lot of very nervous people all over the country really believed that we had to go to war!
    Hey, it worked. You were fooling a helluva lot of people. It made sense to keep at it, and you did. ...

    http://www.tvnewslies.org/html/fool_me_twice.html

    Posted by Reg on Feb 4, 2004 at 7:46 PM

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