Neighboring dictatorships secretly take aim at Iraq elections
Jan 7th, 2005
geostratey-direct.com
The Iraqi elections planned for Jan. 30 could hold the key to U.S. policy in the Middle East and the war against terrorism. U.S. officials say the failure of the elections would mark a tremendous victory for Sunni insurgents and could result in either civil war or the collapse of the interim government in Baghdad.
The U.S. intelligence community has also warned that the Iraqi elections would also serve as a litmus test for whether Arab dictatorships can resist democracy in the Middle East. The community has determined that a successful Iraqi election process would galvanize the region and bolster pro-democracy forces in such countries as Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
As a result, intelligence sources say, several Arab countries are quietly sponsoring efforts to torpedo the Iraqi elections. Several Arab countries have scheduled elections in 2005 but don't want them to result in significant changes. Saudi Arabia has been pouring a huge amount of money and quite a few nationals to bolster the Sunni insurgency.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld agrees with the importance of the elections and the goal of a democratic Iraq. He told U.S. soldiers over the past weekend that Iraq is fundamentally important to the entire Middle East.
"If you are successful here, if we are successful here, if the coalition is successful here, think what will have been lost to the extremists," he said.
"If the extremists are able to take this country back and turn it back to darkness, something will have been lost, an opportunity will have been lost that was historic."
The Iraqis have to be convinced to stay the course and fight the insurgents. The ever-patient Rumsfeld has become skeptical that Iraqi politicians have the courage to maintain the vision of a democratic society. |
