Who's kidding who here?
The Bushies never wanted any of the elections that were held in Iraq this year. Their plan was to install a puppet regime led by Ahmed Chalabi and continue the occupation for years to come. The effort to start a legitimate government was driven by Al Sistani and Shiite religious leaders such as Sadr that knew they would command a majority out of any electoral process.
Imagine if the two major political parties in the United States were the Protestant Party and the Catholic Party, and they conspired together to marginalize the Jewish Party and other minorities, and divide the nation's wealth for themselves.
Imagine if the Catholic Party held a majority and used it to establish Catholic church doctrine as a basis for law.
This Reublican yapping about "victory" is nothing more than desperate grasping for a fig leaf to cover the ineveitable withdrawal following the defeat of the Bush Doctrine.
------ As Exhibit "A" I give you the analysis provided in the Los Angeles Times today:
Islamists Ride Wave of Freedom
CAIRO -- When Iraqis swarmed to the polls last week to cast ballots in parliamentary elections, the Bush administration hailed a democratic victory in a region creaking under the weight of corruption, cronyism and dictatorship.
But the outcome may not be what the administration had in mind when U.S. forces swept President Saddam Hussein from power more than 2 1/2 years ago. Iraq's elections were dominated by Islamic clerics, and the incoming parliament is likely to include a large proportion of Islamist legislators, many of whom have ties to the mullahs of Iran.
More here:
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