GOP Extremists Oust Lugar in Indiana

Yesterday, in a move that inched Iraq another step closer to civil war, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Muslim, vetoed the country’s new election law. According to al-Hashimi, the new law does not provide for enough representation for Iraqi Sunnis who fled the country over the last few years to escape the violence perpetrated against them by the Shi’ite majority. Without a new election law, it will not be possible to hold constitutionally mandated national elections by the January 21, 2010 deadline. The ability of Iraq to hold national elections has been put further in doubt by the Kurdish minority, who have threatened to boycott any elections that do not give them additional representation. Spokesmen from all sides have accused one another of trying to torpedo free elections, and to subvert the democratic process. The fact is, however, that the Shi’ite-dominated Iraqi Parliament has to power to change the constitution with a simple majority, and to over-ride a veto of any new law with a three-fifths majority. As a result of this political reality, it is unlikely that the Sunnis or the Kurds will get the representation they are seeking.

Although the recent veto of the new election law is almost sure to result in a constitutional crisis in Iraq, it will most likely not do more than delay national elections by a few weeks, nor will it immediately effect the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. In fact, the veto of the election law by al-Hashimi only underscores the bitter resentments between the various factions. These resentments stem largely from years and years of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party running roughshod over the Shi’ite majority, and it’s murderous policies toward the Kurds. There is little doubt that national elections, whenever they are finally held, will stop the escalating level of violence and hatred between the factions.

The long term prospects for Democracy in Iraq is grim, due largely to the powerful influences from its giant neighbors to the North and to the South. Its northern neighbor, Iran, is a predominantly Shi’ite Muslim country, which patiently waiting for the opportunity to send its troops into oil-rich Iraq. Once the Shi’ite-dominated Iraqi government is sufficiently threatened with civil war, it won’t be long before a call goes out for military help from Iran. Its southern neighbor, Saudi Arabia, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country, is also patiently waiting for the opportunity to come to the assistance of its down-trodden Sunni brothers when civil war breaks out. Each antagonist, from the north and from the south, will bide their time until the U.S. military presence is gone. Once this happens, the inevitable Iraqi civil war will begin, and the battle between Shiites and Sunnis will engulf the region. Let us hope that the unfortunate decision to invade Iraq by the Bush Administration may just have moved the world one step closer to Armageddon.

—Rich