Roundup: Iraqis see no dramatic change in US policy on Iraq afterelections
www.chinaview.cn 2004-10-28 23:01:27
by Muhsen Hussein, Laith Salman
BAGHDAD, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Most Iraqis believe that no major or drastic change will take place in the war-torn country after the US elections since the coming White House owner will not change the strategy set for years on Iraq.
What the Iraqis want is the end of the occupation and the restoration of security and stability to their country, observers said.
However, Iraqis do not think either US President George W. Bushor Democratic challenger John Kerry will do so although the former announced that the US troops would leave the country the moment they ended their mission, while the later said the occupation of Iraq was a mistake and that he would withdraw the American forces. "The one who rules America is not the president, whether he is a democrat or republican, but the major companies, pressure group sand research centers. Bush will be Kerry and Kerry will be Bushwhen it comes to building the American empire," said Saad Ali, a retired officer living in Baghdad.
"Kerry will not be better than Bush. They are the two sides of one coin, but I still wish Kerry to win the election," said Ismaeel Mohamed, a professor at Baghdad University.
Mohamed's opinion is echoed by some Iraqis who hope that Kerry can win the US presidential elections due on Nov. 2 and that he will bring an end to the strifes the country has been suffering. "I'm sure that John Kerry is to win, who might bring some drastic changes in the essence of the American policies on Iraq," said Um Yassir, a school teacher.
"Bush is making use of people's fear. He has created thousands of enemies to the United States. We hope that the next president is well aware of the results of the wrong policy," she added. While some Iraqis are eager to see Kerry's success in seizing the presidential throne, the Iraqi politicians are in favor of the incumbent president Bush.
"Iraqi politicians prefer Bush to his rival Kerry because they are afraid to lose their posts should any change take place in the American administration, which has brought them into the authority," said Salam Al Shamaa, a political observer in Baghdad. Most of the Iraqi politicians came from abroad after the toppling of the former regime of Saddam Hussein in April 2003, and they were prepared to assume high posts in the new Iraqi authority. "They are afraid of any change in the American administration, especially when Kerry is launching a wide-scale campaign, slamming Bush's policies on Iraq as mistakes that have made Iraq a field of killing and destruction," said Shamaa.
"Iraqi politicians believe in an old Iraqi proverb that says' the person you know is better than the one you don't know', and that's why they want Bush to stay in power, though none of them openly announces that he prefers Bush to Kerry," added the observer.
He also said, "The Iraqi interim government thinks that the United States should finish its task in Iraq by fighting foreign terrorists who sneaked into the country, and Bush, they believe, is more capable of that." |
