clearly… :D
Kofi Annan says credible elections are unlikely in February.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1590197,00.html
Kofi Annan is an idiot, :-? what the heck would he know? i say yes.
yes marine, you are clearly superior both intellectually, and in how informed you are to the situation in iraq as compared to kofi annan, the secretary general of the UN. :roll:
Unfortunately, I think it will be several years before Iraq can have a successful and accurate election. Too much crime, corruption and hatred is stirring in that ravaged country and if people actually believe they will be having an election which at least requires debates, political stances and campaign representations, they are seriously mistaken.
@marine36:
Kofi Annan is an idiot, :-? what the heck would he know? i say yes.
I agree with janus1, marine, is this a joke?! Come on man, talk some sense. The chances of credible elections in Iraq are slim, what facts do you have marine to say there will be? They can’t even get people to walk the streets of baghdad yet without getting sgot, let alone have an election. They may have one, but it will be mostly symbolic.
do you guys realize how many thousands of Marines and iraqi police will be providing security for these elections??? and janus, my cat is superior to kofi annan intelectually, were talking about the guy that says George Bush refused to listen to the UN because he is black! gimme a break!
marine, you really are an idiot if you think you are better qualified to talk about the state of the iraqi elections than kofi annan. seriously, you are a moron.
i know, but so is kofi annan.
seriously, you are a moron.
i know, but so is kofi annan.
No. Kofi Annon may be a conniving, arrogant, Anti-American jerk (i dont think this, just for example purposes), but he is not an idiot. You cant become the head of the United Nations unless you have some degree of intelligence, and a large amount of wisdom. He may be the worst leader the UN ever had, but his intelligence far outsrips those whom we commonly associate with the word moron, mainly druggies, “meatheads” (or the “dumb jocks” for those unfamiliar with the term), and people who flunk high school. Those people are generally morons. UN officials are not.
I have respect for you, marine, but you need to watch what you say. When you want to insult someone in a position of power, say they are manipulative or dishonest or “scumbags”. Dont call them morons, becuase you will most likely be wrong.
marine 36 said:
Kofi Annan is an idiot, what the heck would he know? i say yes.
i understand you disagree with him. this is not the way to do it. calling the Secretary General of the UN an idiot, asking what he would know, and then offering your un-supported opinion of the situation makes YOU less credible than you already were. if you disagree, state that you do, and perhaps a reason why, than you will maybe have some credibility (although it is still dangerous to believe you are smarter than kofi annan, when he is the head of the UN and you are, quite frankly, nobody (as am i, and everyone else on this forum)
at the moment, but i intend to run for president, military service seems to be one of the criteria. at least thats what john kerry thinks. :) and besides marines arnt nobodys, the marines are the guys that spill their guts out for you to live free. most of them at least.
you really aren’t too bright are you.
A bigger question is not will they, but rather should they have ellections? I have to agree with people that say a Constitutional Convention should come first. Give them ownership of this thing called Democracy. What we think it should look like will not work there. Heck, at times it does not work here very well. Regardless, nobody will be willing to fight and die for some other guys version of Freedom. THEY must come up with what Freedom means for them. Then the zealots would be on OUR side.
It does not matter. They will have some sort of ellection. Those ellected will be walking targets, like the people in office now. Iraq is not gonna be a vacation spot for 15 years or more.
i think the postwar handling of Iraq was misguided, but the war was still a good thing, imo. democracy cant be given, or forced, it must grow itself. if you want iraq to be a democracy, you cant just turn them into one, they must do it themselves. it has to grow or evolve there itself. but under saddam, it had no chance. the people couldnt ever have overthrown him. with saddam removed, democracy is not necessarily going to happen, and its certainly not easy, but now its possible. democracy has a chance to happen, if the people want it.
Your incorrect. Democracy has evolved from under Autocracy. The United States for instance. ;) I could name many others.
Democracy is not the next step for them. Theocracy is the next step. They are gonna look like Iran.
Education is their downfall IMO. That should be our focus. Think long term. Say 15 - 20 years. Start getting big ideas in the hands of their general populous. They don’t understand the choice we are trying to give them.
Oh and I am not sure I can call the post war handling wrong. More like the expectations where just crazy. Dick Channy really believed we would be welcomed as liberators? What’s he smoking?
More boots on the ground I suppose. I am starting to waffle. Maybe it’s my support for Kerry soaking in. Ha ha ha! Anyway, if we want a free Iraq we will have to be willing to live there for 10 years or more. We will have to send teachers and bring over as many Iraqis as we possibly can. We need to teach them what we are offering them. We need them to believe in the outcome. We would have to change our quick fix mentality. If we are not willing to spend 10 or more years there and accept the deaths and the HUGE bill, we have already failed. If that is true, we should just get the hell out ASAP. At this point we just need to decide what we really want to happen there. I am on the fence now. Sure, I am still pissed because I did not want to go in the first place. Now that we are there, I guess I need to understand what we REALLY want to happen. Neither side is being very realistic about Iraq at this point.
Education is their downfall IMO. … Start getting big ideas in the hands of their general populous. They don’t understand the choice we are trying to give them.
phew… hard stuff you are proclaiming here, and i am not sure why you think so.
Iraq was well known for its superb (in middle eastern standards) educational system. And i also think the population already has big ideas, whereas this “they don’t understand” sentence has a touch of the “take on the white man’s burden” philosophy.
i think the postwar handling of Iraq was misguided, but the war was still a good thing, imo.
Hey, this allmost sounds like Kerry.
I think, the “postwar” handling started before the war. Going to war on false pretexts like 9/11 or “weapons of mass destruction”, alienating allies like France or Germany, this all didn’t help.
