Jim -- I have read in two different sources, one of them the blog "Baghdad Burning," that the names of the candidates for office in Iraqi have not been announced due to fears of assassinations. If one does not know who's running for office, they do not campaign publicly, etc., then of what use is the election (other than as an accomplishment to be claimed by the administration back in the US)?
Peter Hollings -----Original Message----- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Devine, James Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 12:32 PM To: PEN-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU Subject: [PEN-L] Slate's Today's Papers: Iraqi elections The Bushwhackers' commitment to holding the Iraqi elections as scheduled now seems in the same general ball-park as Hitler's order (during the last phases of WW2) that German troops never retreat. Obviously, there are major differences, but in both cases there's an effort to make symbolic commitments in hopes that somehow sticking to one's guns will solve the problem. Symbolic commitments ("drawing a line in the sand") can work if one starts with enough power, but in both of these cases, the commitments seem in vain. >From WP/Newsweek's "Today's Papers": > The Washington Post fronts a look at the muddled state of absentee voting for Iraqis in the U.S. Officials are predicting that 240,000 voters in the U.S. could show up to cast ballots (this number includes Iraqi-Americans who have never set foot in Iraq but are eligible voters because their fathers were born there), but information on how and where to vote is still scarce, and would-be voters are frustrated. The story takes a hard look at the issue compared to the mostly rosy account in The Los Angeles Times which bears the cheery headline (online, at least): "Expatriates Eager to Rock the Iraqi Vote." >There was more discouraging news Sunday about the upcoming Iraqi election, with an Iraqi paper reporting that every member of the electoral board in the province of Anbar resigned after threats by insurgents. According to the WP, the head of the commission deemed holding elections "impossible." < Jim Devine, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://myweb.lmu.edu/jdevine/
