Tuesday, December 02, 2003

irony is dead, part 32,234,455,321

one of the things i wanted to post about when i was away for thanksgiving was the paul bremer's clashes with the grand ayatollah ali sistani over democracy in iraq. bremer, leader of the occupying force that is supposedly there to "bring democracy to iraq," is pushing an undemocratic caucus-style election in which the people designated by american forces would have the right to attend the caucus and vote. sistani, on the other hand, is pushing for a one-person-one-vote style election. i wonder if the bush administration has heard of that concept?

meanwhile, in another sign that democracy is marching along in iraq, the occupying authority raided the baghdad offices of al-arabiyya (an arabi television network) and banned its broadcasts because it was too critical of the u.s. and the occupying authority's rule. (see helen thomas's criticism of the decision here).