الأنتخابات والعامل الأميركي

[BaghdadeeMod]

يرجى نشر المواضيع ذات الصلة بالعامل أو التدخل الأميركي في الأنتخابات النيابية في العراق لعام 2010

[BahirJ]

Legacy of US 'mistakes' in Iraq palpable

The US ambassador to Baghdad said that the process used to erase the influence of people linked to Saddam Hussein was misguided and has cast a shadow over Iraq's general election in early March.

 

Christopher Hill said in an interview that de-Baathification, which saw tens of thousands of Saddam-era employees sacked and forbidden from re-entering politics and public life after the 2003 American-led invasion, was flawed.

 

"I don't think there is any person alive who would say that mistakes were not made early on in the process," said Hill, referring to the controversial steps taken by Paul Bremer, the Washington diplomat who headed up the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) established after the dictator's ousting.

 

It remains a problem before next month's election, the war-torn country's second post-Saddam national ballot, Hill said.

 

"The people who don't think there were any mistakes made simply don't know much about what happened on the ground," he said, with five weeks before the poll.

 

"We knew de-Baathification was going to be an issue. The process engages very deep emotions among Iraqis ... and is very much an ongoing concern."

 

The CPA's actions failed to acknowledge that many Iraqi teachers, health workers, police and other civil servants, joined the Baath party because membership was mandatory to obtain public sector employment.

 

The purge was blamed for causing chaos and instability, which the CPA and US military failed to control after the invasion.

 

Hill, who has been in Baghdad since April 2009, also criticised the process that led to Ahmed Chalabi - a Shia politician who provided since-discredited intelligence used by George W. Bush and his allies to justify the invasion - being put in charge of the CPA's de-Baathification council.

 

"Some of the decisions made at that time by people who are not Iraqis, such as the decision to name the members of the de-Baathification commission, were probably not the wisest of decisions," said Hill.

 

The de-Baathification council was replaced in 2008 by an integrity and accountability committee, which has the same purpose.

 

It is now headed by Ali al-Allami - an ally of Chalabi, who was held in a US jail having been accused of links to extremist groups in Iran, and who Hill also criticised.

 

"We weren't giving the guy a vacation," Hill said of Allami's detention. "He was there for a reason."

 

Allami's committee has banned 500 candidates, who were accused of links to Saddam's Sunni Arab former elite, from taking part in the election. The decision could see Sunnis - who boycotted the last general election in December 2005 - excluded from the political arena once again.

 

The row and subsequent stalemate over the blacklist has also led to suggestions that US influence in Baghdad is on the slide before a pullout of American combat troops in August and a complete military withdrawal in 2011.

 

Hill, however, said that this was not the case. "If anything our leverage has increased," he said.

 

"It is easier to express yourself to the Iraqis as a respectful foreign diplomat than as an occupier," he added.

 

The ambassador noted that international oil companies signed massive production contracts in Iraq last year, securing billions of dollars for Baghdad, despite the lack of a hydrocarbon law, much touted but never delivered under former president Bush's administration.

 

"If leverage was so robust in the past why did key objectives like the hydrocarbon law never get done? It was a major objective, discussed constantly at very senior levels of the US government," but it never materialised.

 

The role of Iran in Iraqi politics also remains a significant concern for the US administration, Hill said.

 

"It would seem to me that Iranian engagement in Iraq of late has been unhappily rather negative. I don't think, Iran whatever they do on a daily basis through various malevolent means, really offers Iraq much of a future."

 

The upcoming general election is seen as crucial to maintaining the US military's timeline for withdrawal.

 

There are 107,000 American soldiers in Iraq, but this will fall to 50,000 when combat troops leave in August. General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, has said the scheduled drawdown remains flexible between now and the summer.

 

Hill, echoing Odierno's concerns about post-election violence, cautioned all of the country's political parties to respect the outcome.

 

"No one is planning on losing the elections but those who do lose need to understand that they have a tremendous responsibility, in some respects as great as those who win," Hill said.

 

"Iraqi politicians all need to understand they have a responsibility to try to keep tempers low."

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews...q-palpable.html

[BahirJ]

U.S. Institute of Peace Discussion on Iraq Elections

 

 

The United States Institute of Peace hosted a discussion with Ambassador Chris Hill on the approaching national elections in Iraq. He stressed the importance of the vote and how its outcome may affect the international community.

 

 

http://www.c-span.com/Watch/Media/2010/02/...+Elections.aspx

[BahirJ]

State Department Briefing with Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill

Wednesday

 

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill briefed reporters at the State Department on the upcoming elections in Iraq and U.S.-Iraq relations.

Washington, DC : 27 min.

 

 

http://www.c-span.com/Watch/Media/2010/02/...opher+Hill.aspx

[BahirJ]

The Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill had no doubt that he doesn't like AlChalabi or Allami and consider the debathification process is flawed!!!!

[salim]

The Full text of the Embassador Hill's speach.

I recommed for every one interested in Iraqi affairs to give this a look.

It is completely different from what the media populated about it!

I may brief it later

 

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/136818.htm

http://fpc.state.gov/136949.htm

[BahirJ]

QUESTION: Good to see you in person. Yesterday, General Odierno accused two Iraqi officials – let me read the names – Ali Faisal al-Lami and Ahmed Chalabi, who were both key members of the Accountability and Justice Commission, of being clearly influenced by Iran. I’m wondering if you agree with General Odierno’s comments, and are you concerned with Iran’s influence over this process concerning the candidates and the election in general?

 

 

AMBASSADOR HILL: Yeah, I absolutely agree with General Odierno on this. And absolutely, these gentlemen are affected by – are certainly under the influence of Iran. These were people, or in the case of Chalabi, he was named by the CPA administrator, Ambassador Bremer, back in ’03 as the head of the de-Baathification Committee. It was a committee that went out of existence two years ago, replaced by the Accountability and Justice Committee. Everyone else understood that they – that that would – that their terms expired with the expiration of the committee, except for Mr. Chalabi, who assumed by himself the role of maintaining his – a position in a new committee to which he was never named.

[tajer]

Iraqi Sunnis Pin Their Hopes on Elections

By MARC SANTORA

Published: February 26, 2010

 

 

 

 

“We have spent a lot of time studying the question: What is the Sunni breaking point?” said Col. David Funk, commander of the Third Stryker Brigade, Second Infantry Division, which has responsibility for Diyala Province. “It won’t likely be a single event. It will be the slow erosion over time of the belief that they have a role in this country.”

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/world/mi...l?th&emc=th

[abusadiq]

 

السيستاني يحرم بيع الأصوات وشراءها ويؤكد حياد المرجعية بين كل الأطراف

السبت, 27 فبراير 2010

Related Nodes:

270205.jpg

نقل ممثل المرجع الشيعي الأعلى علي السيستاني في كربلاء قوله إنه يحرم بيع وشراء الأصوات. وتحذيره من عدم المشاركة في الانتخابات. وأكد ان مرجعية النجف «محايدة بين كل الاطراف».

 

وقال الشيخ عبد المهدي الكربلائي خلال خطبة امس ان «سماحة المرجع حذر من عدم المشاركة وعزوف المواطن عن الانتخابات لأنه سيمنح الفرصة للآخرين ممن يرفضون الأسلوب الديومقراطي في انتقال السلطة وادارة شؤون البلاد، ويتخذون العنف والاساليب غير المشروعة وسيلة لتغيير الواقع والوصول الى الحكم وفرض نهجهم على الآخرين».

 

وأضاف: «من اجل قطع الطريق امام هؤلاء. وحتى لا يتمكنوا من اعادة العراق الى المربع الأول لا بد من مشاركة الجميع في الانتخابات. كل ذلك من اجل ان نؤسس ونرسخ الاسلوب الديموقراطي في تداول السلطة ونبعد شبح العنف والانقلابات العسكرية عن البلاد». اما اذا عزف المواطن عن المشاركة في الانتخابات فسيأتي يوم نندم فيه اشد الندم على ذلك ولكن بعد فوات الأوان».

 

وأوضح الكربلائي ان «المرجعية، انطلاقاً من موقعها وهو الرعاية الأبوية للجميع، لا تتبنى او تدعم اي قائمة واي كلام خلاف ذلك غير صحيح. ويرجى عدم الاستماع الى ما يصدر من هنا وهناك من شائعات تذكر ان للمرجعية موقفاً ظاهراً معلناً ولكنّ لها موقفاً آخر باطناً يخالف هذا الموقف».

 

وزاد ان «المرجعية اسمى وأجلُّ من ان يكون لها موقف ظاهر معلن وموقف آخر مخالف باطن. فالمرجعية لا تخشى احداً ولا تتقي أحداً فإن كان لها موقف فهي تعلنه ولا تتردد ابداً».

 

وأضاف ان «المرجعية العليا تشدد على ضرورة ان يختار الناخب القائمة الافضل والاكثر حرصاً على مصالح العراق في حاضره ومستقبله واقدرها على تحقيق ما يطمح اليه شعبه الكريم من الاستقرار والتقدم لذلك لا يكفي اصل المشاركة بل لا بد من حسن الاختيار للقائمة وكذلك المرشح فلا يكفي اختيار قائمة هي جيدة بنظر المواطن من دون ان يختار المرشح الجيد ايضاً». ودعا الى ان «يتحرى الناخب جيداً عن المرشحين قبل الادلاء بصوته ويختار الأفضل».

 

وعن بيع وشراء الاصوات قال الكربلائي ان «بذل الاموال والهدايا والوعود لحمل الناخب على انتخاب قائمة معينة او مرشح معين امر غير جائز شرعاً ولا اخلاقياً وهو غير مقبول من الدين والاخلاق.

 

ومحرم شرعاً كما ان المال المأخوذ هو سحت او حرام اضافة الى ان جرَّ الناخب لانتخاب قائمة معينة او مرشح معين تتنافى مع كرامة الشعب العراقي والفرد العراقي لأن هذا الشعب أبي ونزيه وله كرامة يرتفع بها عن قبول الاموال لشراء ذمته. إن صوتك ايها المواطن العراقي وصوتك ايتها المواطنة العراقية أغلى من الدنيا وما فيها فلا تبيعوا الشيء الغالي والنفيس بثمن بخس».

[salim]

Unity Elusive as Iraq Grasps Trappings of Democracy

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/world/mi.../06baghdad.html

 

“It’s like a soccer match and this is the roar of the crowd,” he said.

[salim]

As Iraq Tallies Vote, U.S. Says Pullout Plans Are

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/world/mi...ast/08iraq.html

 

 

 

The shrugging response of voters could signal a fundamental weakening of the insurgency’s potency. At least 38 people were killed in Baghdad. But by day’s end, turnout was higher than expected, and certainly higher than in the last parliamentary election in 2005, marred by a similar level of violence

.

 

 

[salim]

Region Unimpressed by Balloting in Iraq

 

<H6 class=byline>By MICHAEL SLACKMAN</H6><H6 class=dateline>Published: March 8, 2010</H6>

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/world/middleeast/09election.html?th&emc=th

 

 

 

“People in the region are definitely interested in democracy and in practicing their own rights,” said Mr. Abdullah, the political science professor from United Arab Emirates University. “But the Iraqi experience will have an impact on the region only once it stabilizes. Right now, it is so sectarian and unstable that it turns people off. If it becomes a stable democracy, then it will have some impact.”

 

 

 

[salim]

Editorial

 

 

Iraqis Vote

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/opinion/...l?th&emc=th

 

Mr. Allawi appears to have done well in putting together an ethnically balanced coalition and campaigning on overcoming Iraq’s bitter sectarian divides. We hope that as the bargaining plays out he will continue to champion a national vision.

 

Mr. Maliki endorsed the pre-election shenanigans that kicked many Sunnis off the ballot and played hard — at times ruthlessly — to his Shiite base. We hope that he will look at Mr. Allawi’s strong showing and decide that inclusion, rather than division, is not only essential for Iraq’s future, it may also turn out to be good politics.

 

 

[salim]

It’s Up to Iraqis Now. Good Luck.

 

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMANPublished: March 9, 2010

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/opinion/...l?th&emc=th

Former President George W. Bush’s gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This war has been extraordinarily painful and costly. But democracy was never going to have a virgin birth in a place like Iraq, which has never known any such thing.

 

Some argue that nothing that happens in Iraq will ever justify the costs. Historians will sort that out. Personally, at this stage, I only care about one thing: that the outcome in Iraq be positive enough and forward-looking enough that those who have actually paid the price — in lost loved ones or injured bodies, in broken homes or broken lives, be they Iraqis or Americans or Brits — see Iraq evolve into something that will enable them to say that whatever the cost, it has given freedom and decent government to people who had none.

 

 

[tajer]

Q&A: Iraqi parliamentary polls

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8547906.stm