The Sunni perspective

Reporting from the Sunni polling areas (audio clip):

"...a professor who says all that is going to happen out of this new government is that the Shiites will, essentially, get in bed with Iran and the Shiite clerics that rule that country, and they want no part of it..."

Hey, that sounds great! Thank god we got rid of the secular government of Saddam Hussein, who again had absolutely no ties to Al Qeada! We'll be much better off with a democratically-elected (sort of, 'cept not really) government of Shiite muslims who want to get together with their pals from Iran! Thanks Mr. Bush! Your foreign policy is peachy keen!

Then again, what am I worried about? It's not like fundamentalist muslims have an international bond with their fellow devotees or have a relatively unifying hatred for the West...

Sarcasm aside, do I think it's great that large numbers of Iraqis are voting? For them, psychologically, sure. It's the first time they've felt like they had a voice in trying to fix the living hellhole their country has become. Is it really a democratic election? Not really. When the largest minority already feels disenfranchised in a country where conditions are poor and the basic resources for daily life are scarce, you're in dire risk of civil war. Also, it doesn't really count when some idiots from another country march in, point guns at you, and say, "Hey, we don't like your leader. You should have democratic elections! So, umm, go do that."

It's possible that it will work out. One of the main Shiite clerics seems to be making at least some rudimentary effort to include Sunnis in the new government. Who knows...maybe they can get their shit straight and actually put a country together. That doesn't mean a) it's good for the United States if they do, or b) that the whole "regime change" bullshit was a good idea in the first place. Does anyone remember the whole Shah of Iran thing? Anyone? We deposed a popular, democratically elected leader and ended up with the xenophobic, fundamentalist Shiite regime we've come to know and love? Anybody? Bueller?

Just because Iraq might become a functioning democracy doesn't mean it will be any more interested in cooperating with the West or quelling terrorism. Even if you did have a complete dick for a dictator (a far-flung hypothetical for every liberal out there, I'm sure), how would you feel if another country invaded you? Warm fuzzies all around? Send them Christmas newsletters?