[darieBarexish]

Finally the President says something about Iraq. Now we wont hear about it for 6 months. Great news for Iraq though, another successful election. Iraq will no doubt be Bush's greatest achievement if it continues this way. And more specifically the military and supporting groups that made it possible.

President Barack Obama praised the Iraqi people for braving a spate of violence to cast their ballots in the country’s first parliamentary polls since 2005, describing the event as an advance for Iraq’s democracy.

“I have great respect for the millions of Iraqis who refused to be deterred by acts of violence, and who exercised their right to vote today,” Obama said in a statement on Sunday. “Their participation demonstrates that the Iraqi people have chosen to shape their future through the political process.”

At least 25 Iraqis died in dozens of attacks around the country Sunday morning as voting got underway. But by late morning, the burst of violence appeared to have subsided in most places, and many Iraqis flocked to cast their ballots.

The elections mark a key moment for Iraq, with the U.S. sharply drawing down its forces in the country this year. The results – which were too close to call as polls opened — could show whether voters will continue to move away from sectarian politics and whether Washington will maintain its influence in the face of Iranian backing for many of the politicians. Obama Congratulates Iraqis on Parliamentary Polls - Washington Wire - WSJ

[Wckcvhsg]

bush isn't president

[Imiweevierm]

...Iraq will no doubt be Bush's greatest achievement ...

I'm kind of new here, could you help me out, which part is the great achievement:
a death toll in the hundreds of thousands?
Millions displaced internally?
millions displaced externally?
trillions of dollars spent off budget helping sink our nation into an economic crisis not seen in decades?
thousands of American lives lost?
many more maimed?
...all against a country that was not a threat, did not attack us, and was not involved with planning to attack us.

Which is it?

[Lilji]

I'm kind of new here, could you help me out, which part is the great achievement:
a death toll in the hundreds of thousands?
Millions displaced internally?
millions displaced externally?
trillions of dollars spent off budget helping sink our nation into an economic crisis not seen in decades?
thousands of American lives lost?
many more maimed?
...all against a country that was not a threat, did not attack us, and was not involved with planning to attack us.

Which is it?

All of the above. Oh, plus, blood for oil! And halliburton!

[kentbrookug]

bush isn't president

thats the ticket!!! keep'em flying!!

[tramdoctorsss]

bush isn't president

Yes he is. Look at all the spending he's doing.

[Edisesyethisp]

Yes he is. Look at all the spending he's doing.

i don't get it.

[iklostardinn]

I think this elections proves that democracy would never work in Arab states, or at least in the next 20 years or more.

democratic lebanon and Iraq are good examples of this.

in lebanon, we saw how Hariri's son took the "Sunni throne" of his father..waleed janbalt inherting the "Drowz throne" from his father Kamal, etc

the press of leb. are controlled by politicians.. and they basically cant criticized Hezbollah, for example. etc

Iraq is very similar. its now being shared politically by neighbouring states. Candidates campaigns were financed by syria, iran, saudi, kuwait, turkey, U.S.?, etc
same thing with freedom of press, religion factions etc... iraqis had the right to vote just in theory. most of campaigns were based on religion factions. iraqis votes to their tribal and religion cheifs.. there is no sense of nationalism like before. these elections forgot about the high unemployment rates, the growing number of the poor, the wide gap between poor and high class, the dark-aged hospitals, absence of clear water, absence of electricity in some places... the candidate dont suffer from this shitty iraqi life cos they have their own well-equipped neighbourhood at the green zone. it is just a shame to compare iraq before war and now. and this elections just neglect what normal iraqis citizen suffer from. one example, is the growing numbers of iraqi sex traffickers to neighbouring states, who use iraqi girls for prostitution etc.

iraq and lebanon democracies are a big LIE...and now kuwait might be the future of arab-democray, if it dont fail or is failing.

[theonsushv]

i don't get it.

Bush gets blamed for everything. Therefore he should get credit for everything.

[malishka1025]

I think this elections proves that democracy would never work in Arab states, or at least in the next 20 years or more.

democratic lebanon and Iraq are good examples of this.

in lebanon, we saw how Hariri's son took the "Sunni throne" of his father..waleed janbalt inherting the "Drowz throne" from his father Kamal, etc

the press of leb. are controlled by politicians.. and they basically cant criticized Hezbollah, for example. etc

Iraq is very similar. its now being shared politically by neighbouring states. Candidates campaigns were financed by syria, iran, saudi, kuwait, turkey, U.S.?, etc
same thing with freedom of press, religion factions etc... iraqis had the right to vote just in theory. most of campaigns were based on religion factions. iraqis votes to their tribal and religion cheifs.. there is no sense of nationalism like before. these elections forgot about the high unemployment rates, the growing number of the poor, the wide gap between poor and high class, the dark-aged hospitals, absence of clear water, absence of electricity in some places... the candidate dont suffer from this shitty iraqi life cos they have their own well-equipped neighbourhood at the green zone. it is just a shame to compare iraq before war and now. and this elections just neglect what normal iraqis citizen suffer from. one example, is the growing numbers of iraqi sex traffickers to neighbouring states, who use iraqi girls for prostitution etc.

iraq and lebanon democracies are a big LIE...and now kuwait might be the future of arab-democray, if it dont fail or is failing.

But it is working.

[largonioulurI]

But it is working.

Well that's a question of definition and judgement how much the simple fact that ethical/religious/social divided masses get a vote counts for.

In Arabia everything has to be judged in the long run, so come 2025, we're both online and the end results of the Iraq adventure can be judged/seen a bit more fairly, without all the hockus pocus attached to it, due to our countries inner politics, we'll probably have an interesting discussion.

Until now it's a project in the making.

[JonDopl]

Bush gets blamed for everything. Therefore he should get credit for everything.

well now i'm confused. if whenever someone blames bush for something you jump in and say "bush isn't president" shouldn't i be allowed to do the same thing when you give him credit for something?

[bppstorr]

Obushma 3.0 is actually president right now, sorry.

[WrinnaArraple]

well now i'm confused. if whenever someone blames bush for something you jump in and say "bush isn't president" shouldn't i be allowed to do the same thing when you give him credit for something?

No, because Im agreeing with you that Bush should get blame and credit for everything that happens.

[estelle]

I think this elections proves that democracy would never work in Arab states, or at least in the next 20 years or more.

democratic lebanon and Iraq are good examples of this.

in lebanon, we saw how Hariri's son took the "Sunni throne" of his father..waleed janbalt inherting the "Drowz throne" from his father Kamal, etc

the press of leb. are controlled by politicians.. and they basically cant criticized Hezbollah, for example. etc

Iraq is very similar. its now being shared politically by neighbouring states. Candidates campaigns were financed by syria, iran, saudi, kuwait, turkey, U.S.?, etc
same thing with freedom of press, religion factions etc... iraqis had the right to vote just in theory. most of campaigns were based on religion factions. iraqis votes to their tribal and religion cheifs.. there is no sense of nationalism like before. these elections forgot about the high unemployment rates, the growing number of the poor, the wide gap between poor and high class, the dark-aged hospitals, absence of clear water, absence of electricity in some places... the candidate dont suffer from this shitty iraqi life cos they have their own well-equipped neighbourhood at the green zone. it is just a shame to compare iraq before war and now. and this elections just neglect what normal iraqis citizen suffer from. one example, is the growing numbers of iraqi sex traffickers to neighbouring states, who use iraqi girls for prostitution etc.

a lot of what you say is true but then again, its their what? Second real election series? It may blow up, not this time , maybe next time and a new strongman comes up outta the army etc...maybe, maybe not.

iraq and lebanon democracies are a big LIE...and now kuwait might be the future of arab-democray, if it dont fail or is failing. Lebanon?Are you serious, who engages in the fantasy that Lebanon is a democracy?

[Pharmaciest2007]

I'm kind of new here, could you help me out, which part is the great achievement:
a death toll in the hundreds of thousands?
Millions displaced internally?
millions displaced externally?
trillions of dollars spent off budget helping sink our nation into an economic crisis not seen in decades?
thousands of American lives lost?
many more maimed?
...all against a country that was not a threat, did not attack us, and was not involved with planning to attack us.

Which is it?

J.O.N. these are all good conversation points, and you'll get plenty of for/against. What I don't get is why the fine people at moveon.org, whom were saying all of the above up until January 2009, now don't want to complain about Iraq. They have moved on to healthcare. Why? We still have almost 100,000 troops in Iraq.

[whimpykid]

J.O.N. these are all good conversation points, and you'll get plenty of for/against. What I don't get is why the fine people at moveon.org, whom were saying all of the above up until January 2009, now don't want to complain about Iraq. They have moved on to healthcare. Why? We still have almost 100,000 troops in Iraq.

shhh BUSH SUCKS....

[sbgctsa]

I'm kind of new here, could you help me out, which part is the great achievement:

Sure, I'll give you a helping hand, since you're are "kind of new here".

a death toll in the hundreds of thousands? The vast majority of which was at the hands of their own people. The only thing that kept them in line was a psychopathic mass-murderer of a tyrant in Saddam Hussein. His ability to keep the populous in such fear as to over-ride their desire to kill each other isn't really something to advocate. You don't favor Saddam and his tactics, do you?

Millions displaced internally? This was happening before we went in.

millions displaced externally? So was this.

trillions of dollars spent off budget helping sink our nation into an economic crisis not seen in decades? Not trillions, plural. Now if you want to talk about real costs lets talk about how much medicare and medicade costs. Compared to those Iraq is just a drop in the bucket.

thousands of American lives lost? The number that has been lost in 8 years is actually quite commendable. Iraq seems to be slowly showing itself worthy of our sacrifices. I can't say the same for Afghanistan. I will say that nation building is not a good policy.

many more maimed? See above.

...all against a country that was not a threat, did not attack us, and was not involved with planning to attack us. I bet you are 100% on your football picks on Monday night.

[sleepergun]

But it is working.

It cant because Iraq can not maintain it soverign right. I wish it was working, so Arab people could have a strong argument that democracy would work if it was implemented right away at their states, but it is not. Iraq is like lebanon; neighbouring states want a piece of the cake, too. Most of candidates represent a neighbouring state. Most of iraqis vote on basis of religion factions and tribal chiefs. for example, looking at the current voting results, Sunnis only voted for ALawia and the same with Shias who voted for Malki. Secularists and "liberals" didnt have a chance. there are candidate who are buying their votes through the tribal chiefs, and this money comes from other states.. people currently talking about the indirect fake elections, etc.. this is ruining iraqis democracy. Arab people look at Iraq democracy and "thanks god" that they do not have a democratic system.

[Boripiomi]

a lot of what you say is true but then again, its their what? Second real election series? It may blow up, not this time , maybe next time and a new strongman comes up outta the army etc...maybe, maybe not.

Yes. But till when Iraqi democracy would be protected by the U.S.? if we look at all the killing and deaths, etc in the past, its been done by neighbouring states who are more interested in killing the iraqi democratic experience more than fighting the U.S. The idea of forcing democracy scares those states, and their is a regional agreement on fighting this democracy. But lately they have realized that they cant kill this experience, but they are able of ruining it through its political process since the U.S. protection wont last long.

there would be this "arab individual virus".. iraq is still a society based on tribalism and religion.. and the illiterate rates are high..and its not easy for an iraqi leader to leave office jus because he finished his term...even if he was pure democratic, it would be hard to use governmental money to finance his campaign, buy votes, or control the press to support him and compete against the other candidates who are supported politically, financially etc by neighbouring states. someone would probly reform the constitution so he could stay longer, or all neigbouring states would agree on someone maybe like saddam or whoever they can all agree on, then make him rule iraq, etcc... or from the army etc

Algeria, sudan, and palestine democratic transofrmation was killed harshly in its begining..and transformed to a worser systems. those experiences and the iraq experience made ppl. afraid from the idea of "voting". would you think that iraq democratic experience be the same?

Lebanon?Are you serious, who engages in the fantasy that Lebanon is a democracy yes. this is what they said in the news during the lebanon elections a year ago, and now they say the same thing about iraq.