Bush says he'd accept fundamentalist Islamic theocracy in Iraq

Talk about your flip-flops...I'm surprised no one's diaried this yet (not that I've seen). Read this and count the ways this flies in the face of everything Bush has ever said or done.

Reuters: Bush would accept Islamic rule in Iraq

BBC: Bush: I would accept Islamic Iraq

(Reuters article reposted after jump, with commentary)

Bush would accept Islamic rule in Iraq

Washington - American President George Bush said on Monday that he would grudgingly accept an Islamic fundamentalist government in Iraq, if the Iraqi people voted to create one in free elections.

"I would be disappointed, but democracy is democracy," Bush said when asked about the possibility that Iraqis might some day prefer an Islamic government to secular rule.

"If that's what the people choose, that's what the people choose," the president added.

Bush admitted this in an interview aboard Air Force One as he travelled to a campaign stop in New Jersey.

Bush's rare reference to the prospect for Islamic rule appeared to clash with previous remarks from an administration that rejected popular calls for an Iranian-style Islamic state in Iraq soon after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003.

A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president has long believed that Islam is compatible with democracy.

Free elections are expected next January in Iraq, and Bush has touted the prospect for democratic governments there and in Afghanistan as evidence that his administration is making progress in the US war on terrorism.

The majority of Iraqis are adherents of the Shi'ite branch of Islam that rules neighbouring Iran, which Bush scorned as part of an "axis of evil" along with prewar Iraq and North Korea.

Iraq was ruled for decades by secular Baathists until the US-led invasion.

With US and Iraqi officials now struggling to end post-war chaos and violence, Bush has moderated his approach on Iraq's political future.

The president, whose administration once called for the killing or capture of radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, has since said he would not oppose a political role for the religious leader who wants to establish a Shi'ite-dominated Islamic state.

US troops have repeatedly battled Sadr's militia. But recently, the cleric's forces have agreed to an arms handover amid efforts to persuade Sadr to join the political process.

The question isn't whether "Islam is compatible with democracy", it's whether it's worth 1100 US soldiers, $140,000,000,000 and counting, our international credibility and a fierce domestic divide to serve Saddam with papers to appear in court, and create "Little Iran" in his stead.

This is just one more item in a long list of stuff that wasn't in the brochure.

•  Accept it?

  He doesn't have a choice...

  by Jsea on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 03:53:31 PM PDT

•  The United States

  will be a fundamentalist theocracy if Bush wins.

  So of course he doesn't mind.

  by Plutonium Page on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 03:55:32 PM PDT

•  Bush should change that slogan to be more accurate

  Islamic theocracy is on the march!

  by edverb on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 03:58:58 PM PDT

  •  Good one! Slap in the face to all the families

    of dead and maimed soldiers.

    No WMDS
    No al qaeda
    No secular democracy as an example that creates change across the whole middle east.

    What is left
    Saddam is in jail, so the son finally bested the father. We are suffering for the Bush family psycho drama.

    Oh yeah....torture chambers, rape rooms, whoops, that was US.

    by karenc13 on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 04:05:08 PM PDT

    •  what's a slap in the face?

      My comment is a slap in the face? I'm not sure if that's what you meant...if so, that's not my objective. It's a play on Bush's empty slogan, which belies his true intentions.

      The CINC joking aorund looking under a couch for the WMDs, now that's a slap in the face.

      Or childishly taunting insurgents to "bring 'em on", that's a slap in the face.

      Declaring premature victory in May 2003, or failing to send the troops with adequate equipment is a slap in the face.

      Ignoring calls by commanders and troops for more equipment, more bodies, while simultaneously lying to America by saying that stuff would be theirs for the mere asking...that's a slap in the face.

      Sending them to a misguided, immoral, unjust war based on lies and scare tactics assuming the worst and not planning for even the most obvious scenarios...that's the ultimate slap in the face.

      by edverb on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 04:13:13 PM PDT

      •  Agreeing with you!

        IT is a slap in the face to the families, that Bush said he doens't care if Iraq goes fundamentalist.

        There are no credible reasons left for this war except the revenge, NOT on Saddam, but to even the score with Dad, who did not get Saddam.

        by karenc13 on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 04:26:14 PM PDT

        •  thanks

          My rule is:

          If something I said could be interpreted one of two ways, and one of them makes you angry or sad...I meant the other one. ;-D

          by edverb on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 04:32:38 PM PDT

•  Strategic Defeat for US in Iraq

  I saw President Bush's quote this morning. This means Bob Novak is right. If the election is fair, Islamic Fundamentalists who swore to throw the Americans out will be elected and the US will be gone. Bush has admitted this, yet it has passed by unnoticed.

  by Jim S on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 04:33:55 PM PDT

•  Flippety floppety

  Here's what Bush had to say last November:

  
   As the colonial era passed away, the Middle East saw the establishment of many military dictatorships...  Dictators in Iraq and Syria promised the restoration of national honor, a return to ancient glories. They've left instead a legacy of torture, oppression, misery, and ruin.

  Other men, and groups of men, have gained influence in the Middle East and beyond through an ideology of theocratic terror. Behind their language of religion is the ambition for absolute political power. Ruling cabals like the Taliban show their version of religious piety in public whippings of women, ruthless suppression of any difference or dissent, and support for terrorists who arm and train to murder the innocent. The Taliban promised religious purity and national pride. Instead, by systematically destroying a proud and working society, they left behind suffering and starvation.

  Many Middle Eastern governments now understand that military dictatorship and theocratic rule are a straight, smooth highway to nowhere.

  There are governments that still fear and repress independent thought and creativity, and private enterprise -- the human qualities that make for a -- strong and successful societies. Even when these nations have vast natural resources, they do not respect or develop their greatest resources -- the talent and energy of men and women working and living in freedom.
  

  So now Bush is acknowledging he took us down a "highway to nowhere" in Iraq.
  

  by chezgle on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 04:44:14 PM PDT