Electoral Fraud Allegations?

Juan Cole talks a little about the allegations of electoral fraud on his excellent blog, informed comment. As he knows i dont agree with everything he says, and this is one of them. While i agree that there probably were instances of fraud, i dont think it was a swidespread as some are saying. What with the security situation being as bad as it is, i dont think these elections went to badly, and if there was fraud, all sides took part in it and the blame cannot rest solely with UIA. The first source he uses is The Guardian of London, a notoriously anti-religion paper (it's secular tone is highlighted by the fact that Salman Rushdie has an article with them). And his second source is one of Iyad Allawi's allies, who is most probably just displaying symptoms of that seasonal illness, sour grapes. Victims usually contract it during the chilly post-election period.

Allawi really makes my blood boil. This is the man who accused the current government of being worse than Saddam's regime. If that were the case, wouldn't Allawi have been tortured and executed by now for his dissent? Wouldn't his family have been charged for the bullets used to kill him? Wouldn't all the male members in his family be shot dead as a warning to anyone else who wants to challenge the government? There isn't a word in the dictionary to describe this man. 'Chutzpah' is the cleanest of the ones swirling around in my head.

Anybody want to see how lovely the baath party were? Here's the people Allawi wants to bring back to power.


WARNING. THE FOLLOWING LINKS CONTAIN EXTREMELY GRAPHIC LEVELS OF VIOLENCE: CHILDREN ARE STRICTLY WARNED NOT TO VIEW THESE VIDEOS.

http://inhonor.net/videos/uped/fl_video.php?f_num=83500

or how about this one.

http://inhonor.net/videos/uped/fl_video.php?f_num=76500

granted, this is from Fox News, but just concentrate on the footage from Iraq.

http://inhonor.net/videos/uped/fl_video.php?f_num=53800


I'm very sorry if anyone was disturbed by this footage but this is what Iraq is up against today. These are the kind of people waging war on the people of Iraq.

And Allawi talks about having compassion for them and allowing them back into government.

Thanks but no thanks Iyad.