Curbing my enthusiasm

Forgive me if I remain cynical regarding the results of the Iraqi election. We do, after all, have Bush in charge, and he has spent four years bullshitting and manipulating. I have little doubt that the end result of this will be for Bush to install an American puppet who is entirely beholden to us, instead of to the Iraqi people. Because in the final analysis, everything Bush does is for the benefit of Bush.

Here is an interesting take on it from the Liberal Oasis.

As Needlenose and Informed Comment note, the Bushies didn’t even want direct elections to decide the national assembly.

They wanted a convoluted caucus system (discussed here in 11/03) that would be easier to manipulate, but they relented under pressure from Ayatollah Sistani.

However, that doesn’t mean the Bushies gave up on influencing the outcome.

They gave CIA-buddy Iyad Allawi, who has his own slate in the elections, a leg up by maneuvering to appoint him interim prime minister.

And the neocons managed (by luck, design or both) to pull off the bankshot that LiberalOasis speculated about back in May:

Giving Ahmed Chalabi some anti-American sheen by driving a public wedge between him and White House, easing his transition to being a prominent member of the Sistani-endorsed slate.

In turn, the US has old friends on two rival slates, the two expected to win the most votes. Very convenient.

(Rumors were spread yesterday of powerful roles for both of them in the next government.)

That coupled with this lovely quote from GOP pollster Frank Luntz:

"Americans will watch the pictures over the next few days and you'll see support
for the war increase. The pictures over the last few months have been negative. These are the first positive visuals and it will have an impact on American public opinion."

makes it pretty obvious to me that the whole thing is manipulated.

So forgive me if I curb my enthusiasm.