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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (45093)	5/18/2004 8:50:09 AM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793782

Hi Nadine, Is the destruction of the gaza homes designed to create a cordon sanitaire at the gaza/egypt border? If so, does Israel plan on holding that 250 yard strip of gaza? If so, how hard will it for them to hold this land or are they just waiting for egyptian assurances to stop the tunnels on their end? I read the NYT today and none of this is clear. Also the folks being dislocated deserve compensation. This is eminent domain kind of stuff and the israelis should adhere to this line of thought for their own benefit now that kofi has his annan in a tizzy. Mike

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (45093)	5/18/2004 9:51:57 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793782

Nice, thanks for posting. But is it typical? And will the various militias that are floating around allow such results to stand? The poll was the latest in a series which this overwhelmingly Shia province has held in the past six weeks, and the results have been surprising. Seventeen towns have voted, and in almost every case secular independents and representatives of non-religious parties did better than the Islamists. This week sees the biggest event in the Shia calendar, the annual pilgrimage to the holy cities of Kerbala and Najaf, and thousands of people were making the 10-day walk along the main road west through Nassiriya and its surrounding province of Dhi Qar. But in the march to the polling booths the secular democrats were showing the greater strength. "This is a free election," said Jawad Khadum, a teacher in Tar. "We want more of them, for example in our teachers' union and for the mayor." Like many professionals, he was worried by the way some religious parties had been throwing their weight around, trying to close shops which sell alcohol and pressing every woman to wear a veil. He saw the vote as a chance to stop this, he said. The results will have delighted him. Neither of the two Islamist candidates was among the 10 elected. A woman teacher got in, the first female councillor in the province. Other winners included an agricultural engineer and three businessmen. In Shatra, a town of 250,000, the Communist party won four seats and independents seven. Partly because of their popularity for stopping the looting which followed the overthrow of the old regime, the Islamists had a majority in the former council which was appointed last summer. After the election they were cut back to four seats out of 15. "It was not a surprise," said Jalil Abed Jafar, a doctor, in the Communist party's upstairs offices along the waterfront. Shatra is where the party was founded 70 years ago, and the offices were still full of posters celebrating that event, along with photographs of dozens of members executed by the former regime. No other province has held as many elections as Dhi Qar. I know it may look like I "want" to be pessimistic. I don't. I just think that there are too many bullets floating around in too many hands and too much bad history and too many people who are certain that they are "right" or know what's "best" for the "country" at large. And, just as importantly, too much potential wealth concentrated in one industry. I fear all of this adds up to a bad end.