On Sunday Iraq will hold a general election to choose its constitutional assembly. The vote takes place one year and 11 months after the United States invaded the country. It is promoted as "the first multi-party elections in Iraq's history," but it is a "half election" that excludes most Sunnis and insurgent forces. There are many areas where candidates are unable to campaign because of insurgent attacks even amidst intense security.
It is very likely that this election will intensify the divisions and chaos in Iraq, rather than serve to spread the seeds of democracy. Voters will go to the polls not even knowing candidates' faces, and mostly will vote for their religious and tribal factions. The results are already as good as determined, no matter what the voting rate is. More than 60 percent of the population is Shia, and Shia parties will take the majority while Kurd parties, the Kurds having cooperated with the US invasion, will rise in status. The Sunnis were the dominant religious faction before the invasion, and now that they find themselves in a weak position there will inevitably be friction with other groups. The Kurd independence movement will gather strength and will become a new Middle Eastern headache along with the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
It is the US that has brought the situation to this. It was a big crime to have invaded the country illegally, but it is even more wrong to invoke new excuses to continue its military occupation when the justifications for the invasion have been found to have been lies. The US has been pushing ahead as if the election will cure all problems. It would be hard to explain that thinking without there being imperialist intentions to rule by dividing Iraq and Iraqis.
Even now 90 percent of the Iraqi people consider the US military to be occupiers. What they need most urgently is not a clumsy democracy but a withdraw of US forces and national unity. We hope the US withdraws its troops swiftly, regardless of what the results of the election is. The international community needs to help Iraqis as they rebuild their country. The US must stop deceiving the world with false excuses about spreading democracy.
The Hankyoreh, 29 January 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Iraqi Election Intensifies Division, Chaos |
