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February 4, 2005

Another U.S. Election Fraud in Iraq
All Out to End the Occupation Actions March 19
Arab Lawyers Association in Britain Opposes Election
Iraqi Exiles in London Protest Election
Iraqi in Baghdad: "The Election Was Shoved Down Our Throats" - Democracy Now! Monday, January 31st, 2005
Election Divides a Nation - Dahr Jamail, Inter Press Service, January 24, 2005
Here Comes "The Freedom" - Dahr Jamail, Electronic Iraq, January 27, 2005
The Vietnam Turnout Was Good as Well - Sami Ramadani, The Guardian


Another U.S. Election Fraud in Iraq

All Out to End the Occupation! Days of Action March 19-20

The elections held in Iraq on January 30th, under U.S. occupation, were illegal, undemocratic and yet another U.S. election fraud. All the norms and standards of international law require that any occupying force must first withdraw, militarily, politically and economically, for an election to have any meaning. It is also the standard that everyone be freely able to vote without fear -- a demand the U.S. routinely imposes on other countries whenever it wants to proclaim the elections illegitimate. In Iraq, however, no such laws and standards apply. In Iraq, simply the existence of people going to vote has transformed it into a “free and sovereign” country.

In his State of the Union address, February 2nd, President George W. Bush put it this way: “All of us in the elected branches of government share a great privilege: We've been placed in office by the votes of the people we serve. And tonight that is a privilege we share with newly-elected leaders of Afghanistan, the Palestinian Territories, Ukraine, and a free and sovereign Iraq.” In this manner, the Iraq elections, under occupation and martial law, at gunpoint, with huge sections boycotting and many millions more too afraid to vote, are just as “free and fair” as U.S. elections. Perhaps so. Perhaps this is the point. To tell Americans and all the world that occupation, military rule and martial law, with openly fraudulent elections, are democracy. And the “freedom” Bush is pushing is the freedom to cast a ballot in such conditions.

For the U.S., simply the existence of such an election as occurred in Iraq, orchestrated and delivered by the U.S. at gunpoint, is to be accepted as democracy and therefore legitimate. The occupation is to be ignored. The rejection by Iraqis is to be ignored. Their legitimate right to resistance and self-determination is to be ignored.

In the same way that Bush is claiming the November election fraud give him a mandate for more wars and repression, he is attempting to claim that the Iraqi election fraud makes continued U.S. occupation and unending war crimes legitimate. All that is required in Bush-style “freedom” is the casting of ballots in a fraudulent election.

We the peoples say NO! People in Iraq, the U.S. and around the world recognize in U.S.-style democracy the darkest reaction and organized terrorism against the peoples.

Around the world, including in Iraq, across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, International Days of Action are being organized March 19-20 to demand an end to the occupation of Iraq. At the last count, 29 countries have plans in place. An anti-war assembly held at the World Social Forum in Porte Alegre, Brazil, endorsed the International Days of Action. The assembly included representatives of the anti-war movement from 33 countries, including Iraq.

In the U.S. main actions are planned in New York City and San Francisco with many local actions in between. “End the War and Occupation” and “Troops Out Now” are main slogans of the actions. In New York City, in defiance of previous government efforts to block demonstrators from going to Central Park, the action will march to the Park on March 19th. In San Francisco, protesters will gather at Dolores Park and then Rally at the Civic Center.

A main regional action is being organized in Fayetteville, North Carolina, home to Fort Bragg, one of the largest U.S. military bases, and four other bases. Military Families Speak Out, Bring Them Home Now, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans For Peace, Quaker House, Fayetteville Peace with Justice, the North Carolina Peace and Justice Coalition, and the North Carolina Council of Churches are spearheading the Fayetteville action and urging all in the region to participate.

Voice of Revolution calls on everyone to join in these actions and step up the struggle against U.S.-style democracy and all its fraud, brutal aggression, repression and crimes against humanity.

End the Occupation Now! All Out for March 19-20

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Arab Lawyers Association in Britain Opposes Election

Foreign occupation forces in Iraq have no legal authority to restructure the politics, society and economy of this Arab country and even less to call for elections, the president of the Arab Lawyers Association in Britain Sabah Mokhtar said January 24 in an interview on BBC Radio. He stressed that the Geneva and Vienna Conventions stipulate that occupation troops of a state have no legal power to restructure it.

"Iraq is not currently a sovereign nation, but an occupied one, in which foreign forces have proclaimed a constitution and legislation for elections and the creation of political parties," Mokhtar said in response to a question about the motive of the Iraqi resistance to oppose the U.S.-led elections. He added that Iraq had 300 laws when the U.S.-British forces launched their aggression in March 2003, most established in the 1920s. He said some of those needed to be reformed, but they can only be changed by a legal authority.

Mokhtar also emphasized that a state in war cannot legally call for elections, even less when at least 100 insurgent attacks are reported in Iraq daily. Iraqi citizens fear to go to the polls, are unable to vote and there is no information about election candidates, he said.

If elections take place now it will only be because U.S. President George W. Bush has made an incorrect decision, Mokhtar concluded.

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Iraqi Exiles in London Protest Election

The following is a letter to the press written by Sami Ramadani, Senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University, dated January 20, 2005.

* * *

Dear Editor,

Iraq is being denied free and fair elections, after enduring decades of Saddam's brutal dictatorship. The U.S. and British occupation governments have engineered a process for reproducing the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Interim Government, to prolong the occupation and incite sectarian and ethnic conflicts.

Millions of Iraqis, under siege in many parts of their homeland, will be disenfranchised, while hundreds of thousands of second generation Americans and Israelis could vote.

While boycotting this undemocratic exercise, we strongly condemn all forms of violence against Iraqis participating in it. We, as exiles, are confident that the vast majority of Iraqis, at home and abroad, shall unite to end the U.S.-led occupation and establish democracy, whatever their stance on participation.

We echo opinions within Iraq stressing the impossibility of holding free and fair elections while under occupation, and being subjected to war crimes by the U.S.-led forces. However, we support demands for minimal pre-conditions:

(1) setting a strict timetable for speedy withdrawal of all occupation forces,

(2) ceasing all attacks, and confining all occupation forces to barracks until full withdrawal,

(3) ending martial law and releasing all political prisoners,

(4) establishing an independent election commission, led by Iraq's senior serving and retired judges, and including all Iraq's political forces. The commission can be assisted by anti-occupation figures, e.g. Nelson Mandela and the UN General Assembly.

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Iraqi in Baghdad: "The Election Was Shoved Down Our Throats"

- Democracy Now! Monday, January 31st, 2005 -

To get an Iraqi perspective on the election, we go to Baghdad to speak with retired Iraqi engineer Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar. Mukhtar says, "What do I do with democracy? Does it allow me to walk across the street without being feared of being kidnapped or being shot at or being mugged or being stolen? Would democracy feed my children? Would democracy allow me to quench my thirst? The U.S. has not done anything at all to improve the life of Iraqi people." [includes rush transcript]

To get an Iraqi perspective on the elections we turn now to retired Iraqi engineer Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar. We have spoken to Ghazwan at key points during the invasion and occupation of Iraq. One the first anniversary of the invasion, the first siege of Fallujah and the so-called transfer of sovereignty on June 28. Today we get his thoughts on the elections in Iraq. Just before the program, we reached Ghazwan Al Mukhtar at his home in Baghdad.

* Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar, retired Iraqi engineer.

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: And this is Democracy Now! democracynow.org as we move from Kurdistan back to Baghdad, to get response from retired Iraqi engineer Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar. Throughout key points of the invasion and occupation we have checked in with him on the first anniversary of the invasion, on the siege of Fallujah, the so-called transfer of sovereignty on June 28. Today we get his thoughts on the elections. We reached him just before the program. This is Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar at his home in Baghdad.

GHAZWAN AL-MUKHTAR: I do not believe that the election is legitimate, the election is held under the occupation. The occupying power has modified the basic rules in Iraq as to who is an Iraqi and who is not. The election was shoved down our throat because all the major parties, including Allawi's party, requested that the election be postponed. That was in November. And before even the independent electoral commission could decide on the request, that President Bush said he does not want the election to be postponed and Ambassador Negroponte said, oddly enough, it came from Fallujah. He was in Fallujah, and declared that the elections will be held on the January 30. It is an Iraqi election, it is not a U.S. election, it is not Negroponte's election, it is the Iraqi people's election. So, if the Iraqi parties wanted to postpone the election, they should have been able to do so without the interference of the United States government.

Anyway, having done the election now, it was forced down our throat, a lot of people have boycotted it. The Sunnis have boycotted the elections. Some of the Shias boycotted it. Muktadar Al Sadr faction boycotted the election. Al Khalaf faction boycotted the election. There is a resistance to the occupation in Iraq. This resistance stems from the fact that our life has been, for the last 22 months, deteriorating day and night and we have not seen any improvement in our condition for the last 22 months, nor that anything has been reconstructed. The telephone system is bad, the electricity is worse, the security condition is worse. A lot of people are saying, why do I vote? What does the government do for me? They did absolutely nothing. The shocking thing is that the conditions after 22 months of occupation is a lot worse in every single aspect of life than with Saddam Hussein, after 12 years of sanction.

While I'm talking to you I just heard two bombs exploding not too far from here. I did not vote and I will not vote to any one of those people who came on the back of the American banks. I do not see any change because there is no will to reconstruct anything. There is no will to improve the life of the Iraqis. It is going to take another two years and a lot of will. Mind you, in 1991, with the huge destruction in Iraq, we, the Iraqi people, despite the sanctions and with no help from anybody, we were able to restore the electricity, we were able to restore the water, the sewage and in six months we were able to rebuild the country in less than a year. Now that time has gone. The U.S. had 22 months occupation and they have not fixed a single thing in Iraq. We are still getting 2,000 to 2,200 calories on the ration system. We were told that Saddam Hussein was stealing our money both in the palaces and keeping us poor and hungry. But now after 22 months, we are still getting 2200 calories or sometimes less.

Halliburton -- we have added crisis right now of petrol, Iraq was an exporting country of diesel fuel and refined oil products. Since the occupation, we have been importing oil from Turkey. No one fixes the refineries. There is a huge queue of cars waiting to get oil or petrol. And the Congress, the U.S. Congress said in 2003, May 2003, seven out of 18 governmentals had more than 16 hours of electricity. Now we are getting two hours of electricity right in Baghdad. I am lucky today, I have electricity from 7:00 to 9:00 and that is going to be all. Until late in the evening, maybe, I don't know when, I'll get the electricity.

So, all those factors will indicate that the people are discontent, the people are resentful of the presence of the American forces, that the people are dissatisfied with the occupation, because they have not seen any improvement in their life. Unemployment is very high; it's at about 60%. People are starving. This is the basis for the resistance. It's not the Mussabu Al Zarqawi and Abu, I don't know who, or the terrorists coming from the outside of Iraq. It is the indigenous Iraqi resistance. While we were told that Saddam Hussein was torturing us, we are finding after 22 months that the Americans are torturing us, the British are torturing us, the Danish are torturing us and now we discover that the Iraqi forces, the ING is torturing us. So, instead of one having one torturer, now we have four torturers. And you want us to be happy with the election.

This reminds me of a story when Mary Antoinette, when she was told that the people did not have bread to eat. She said why don't they eat cake? We don't have anything and they tell us here it is democracy. Take democracy. What do I do with democracy? Does it allow me to walk across right the street without being feared of being kidnapped or being shot at or being mugged or being stolen? Would democracy feed my children? Would democracy allow me to quench my thirst? The U.S. has not done anything at all to improve the life of Iraqi people. And that is one of the reasons why you are seeing all those attacks.

AMY GOODMAN: Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar, a retired Iraqi engineer speaking from his home in Baghdad.

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Election Divides a Nation

- Dahr Jamail, Inter Press Service, January 24, 2005 -

Voice of Revolution reprints here two articles from Dahr Jamail independent journalist in Iraq

* * *

The elections due Jan. 30 appear to have brought more chaos and division amongst Iraqis than unity and hope. And they have brought greater security fears.

U.S.-appointed prime minister Iyad Allawi acknowledged last week that full security will be impossible. This despite the rather draconian measures his interim government will have in place.

The puppet government closed borders Jan. 29-31. It cut mobile and satellite phone services, banned travel between Iraq's 18 provinces, lengthened curfew hours and restricted use of vehicles.

Three security rings were set up around each of the 9,000 polling stations.

The health ministry announced it would provide more hospital beds, medical supplies and staff for the day. The U.S. military ran extra patrols to respond faster to attacks.

At least eight candidates were killed in the runup to the election, and many others received daily death threats. Campaigning consisted of parties employing staff to post leaflets and set up posters. Many of the posters were torn down the same day, while others were burned.

The polling process itself is confusing many people. With 7,785 mostly unnamed candidates on the lists of 83 coalitions of political parties, voters have little idea who they will be voting for. Each list contains between 83 and 275 candidates, running on platforms championing all sorts of causes.

The 'candidates' lists have names such as 'The Security and Stability List,' 'The Security and Justice List' and the 'Iraq List.' Many include fancy graphics, but few carry candidate photographs.

Allawi is a member of a list running under the slogan 'For a strong, secure, prosperous, democratic and unified Iraq.' Most candidate lists do not mention the occupation of Iraq.

One election poster reads, "Let the polls be our answer to the car bombings and insecurity." Another has a smiling face of a man with the promise that this list will focus on restoring electricity.

The lists are mostly sectarian. Kurdish lists are focused on winning Kirkuk for Kurds, and obtaining a top government post. Shias have their own lists, some seeking federalism, others an Iranian-style regime.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni group, has called for a boycott in protest against the destruction of Fallujah by the U.S. military. Local people estimate that 90 percent of Sunnis will not vote. Members representing Sunni Muslims would in that event have to be appointed.

Most voters are expected to be Shia Muslims. Their revered Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has issued a fatwa instructing his followers to vote.

"I will vote because Sistani has told U.S. this will help the country," said Abdel Hassan, a shoemaker in the predominantly Shia district Karrada in Baghdad. "And I am ready to do anything to help my country."

Other Iraqis appear to be firmly against the elections.

"How can we vote when we don't know any of the candidates," said a Shia man who gave his name as Ghassan. "And how can any of them help a country that is occupied by invaders?"

Just the fear of violence is certain to keep many voters at home. "We don't know when the next bullet will come so we are staying in our homes most of the time," said Abdulla Hamid, a 35-year-old father of five who sells vegetables in Baghdad. "I would vote if there was security, but this election is confusing to me and seems to be causing so many problems already."

Some believe voting will help security. "I will be voting for Allawi because I think he can help Iraq," says Suthir Hamiz, whose husband works in the supply department at a U.S. military camp. "I think he can bring security."

Hamoudi Aziz, who drives his car as a taxi while looking for a better job, says the elections themselves have brought a worsening of the security situation. "I'm not even safe in my own home under this martial law," he said when asked if he will vote. "So how am I expected to vote for this crazy parliament?"

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Here Comes "The Freedom"

- Dahr Jamail, Electronic Iraq, January 27, 2005 -

My friend from Baquba visited me yesterday. He brought the usual giant lunch of home cooked food he always brings when he comes to see me. I'm still eating it, actually. I had it again for dinner tonight. Ah, the typical Iraqi meal.

He owns four large tents, and rents them to people in his city to use at funeral wakes, marriage parties, tribal negotiation meetings and to cover gardens, among other things.

During the Anglo-American invasion of his country back in the spring of 2003, when refugees from Baghdad sought shelter from the falling bombs, many of the families inundated his city. After his house was filled with refugees, he let others use his tents, for free of course.

Refugees from Fallujah are using them now.

At least 35 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq today. Thirty-one of them died when a Chinook went down near the Jordanian border. At least four others died in clashes in the al-Anbar province. A patrol on the airport road was bombed, destroying at least one military vehicle. The military hasn't released any casualty figures on that one yet.

"Bring 'em on," said George Bush quite some time ago, when the Iraqi resistance had begun to pick up the pace.

Today, during a press conference he spoke about the upcoming elections in Iraq.

"Clearly there are some who are intimidated," he said, "I urge alls (not a typo) people to vote."

Let me describe the scene on the ground here in "liberated" Iraq.

With the "elections" just three days away, people are terrified. Families are fleeing Baghdad much as they did prior to the invasion of the country. Seeking refuge from what everyone fears to be a massive onslaught of violence in the capital city, huge lines of cars are stacked up at checkpoints on the outer edges of the city.

Policemen and Iraqi soldiers are trying to convince people to stay in the city and vote.

Nobody is listening to them.

Whereas Baghdad is filled with Fallujah refugees, now villages and smaller cities on the outskirts of Baghdad are filling up with election refugees.

Yet these places aren't safe either. In Baquba attacks on polling stations are a near daily occurrence. Mortar attacks are common on polling stations even as far south as Basra. A truck bomb struck a Kurdish political party headquarters in a small town near Mosul, killing 15 people, wounding twice that many. A string of car bombs detonated at polling stations in Kirkuk, which was already under an 8pm-5am curfew, killing 10 Iraqis.

Here in Baghdad, although the High Commission for Elections in Iraq has yet to announce their locations, schools which are being converted into polling stations are already being attacked.

Iraqis who live near these schools are terrorized at the prospect.

"They can block the whole city and people cannot move," says a man speaking to me on condition of anonymity, "The city is dead, the people are dead. For what? For these forced elections!"

He is angry and frustrated because his street is now blocked as he lives near a small yellow middle school that is going to be used as a polling station.

Nearby some U.S. soldiers are occupying a police station, as usual. One of them saw me taking photos and tried to confiscate my camera.

It didn't matter that I showed him my press badge. After some talking he let me delete the photos and move on, camera in hand.

Sand barriers block the end of a street, the school where the insides are already in disrepair sits just behind them.

At least 90 streets in Baghdad are now closed down by huge sand and/or concrete barriers and razor wire. The number is growing daily.

"Now I'm afraid mortars will hit my home if the polling station is attacked," he adds. He'll be moving across town to stay at a relative's house, which is not near one of the dreaded polling stations.

An owner of a small grocery shop nearby is just as concerned. He had to negotiate with soldiers to have them leave an opening on the end of the barrier so people could access his place of business.

"I'm already living off my food ration, and have little business," he says while pointing at the deserted street, "Now who wants to come near my shop? All of U.S. are afraid, and all of U.S. are suffering now."

A tired looking guard standing nearby named Salman chimes in on the conversation. "I would be crazy to vote, it's so dangerous now," he says with a cigarette dangling from his hand, "Besides, why vote? Of course Allawi will stay in. The Americans will make it so."

A contact of mine just returned from spending a week in Fallujah. We shared some of the food brought from my friend in Baquba.

"I'd been in Fallujah for a week and all I'd seen was tough military tactics," he tells me, "They are arresting people and putting them in these trucks, blindfolded and tied up. Everywhere I looked all I saw was utter devastation."

He spoke with many families who told him one horror story after another, death after death after death.

"Then today, the military brings in a dozen Humvees and ground troops to basically seal off a small area near a market," he continues, "In the middle of them is a CNN camera crew filming troops throwing candy to kids and these guys in orange vests start cleaning the streets around them."

He laughs while holding up his arms and says, "I'd never seen those guys anywhere in the city before. I don't know where they came from."

After a pause to take a drink of soda he adds, "I'd never seen any boots on the ground at all, and all of the sudden there are all these marines standing around like everything was ok. It was the first time I'd seen any soldier not in a Humvee or a Bradley. I was really surprised."

"All of it was 100% staged. Good PR before the election," he says. Then in a reference to mainstream America he adds, "Fallujah is fine, now go back to sleep."

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The Vietnam Turnout Was Good as Well

- Sami Ramadani, The Guardian -

No amount of spin can conceal Iraqis' hostility to US occupation

Tuesday February 1, 2005 - On September 4 1967 the New York Times published an upbeat story on presidential elections held by the South Vietnamese puppet regime at the height of the Vietnam war. Under the heading "US encouraged by Vietnam vote: Officials cite 83% turnout despite Vietcong terror", the paper reported that the Americans had been "surprised and heartened" by the size of the turnout "despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting". A successful election, it went on, "has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam". The echoes of this weekend's propaganda about Iraq's elections are so close as to be uncanny.

With the past few days' avalanche of spin, you could be forgiven for thinking that on January 30 2005 the US-led occupation of Iraq ended and the people won their freedom and democratic rights. This has been a multi-layered campaign, reminiscent of the pre-war WMD frenzy and fantasies about the flowers Iraqis were collecting to throw at the invasion forces. How you could square the words democracy, free and fair with the brutal reality of occupation, martial law, a US-appointed election commission and secret candidates has rarely been allowed to get in the way of the hype.

If truth is the first casualty of war, reliable numbers must be the first casualty of an occupation-controlled election. The second layer of spin has been designed to convince us that an overwhelming majority of Iraqis participated. The initial claim of 72% having voted was quickly downgraded to 57% of those registered to vote. So what percentage of the adult population is registered to vote? The Iraqi ambassador in London was unable to enlighten me. In fact, as UN sources confirm, there has been no registration or published list of electors - all we are told is that about 14 million people were entitled to vote.

As for Iraqis abroad, the up to 4 million strong exiled community (with perhaps a little over 2 million entitled to vote) produced a 280,000 registration figure. Of those, 265,000 actually voted.

The Iraqi south, more religious than Baghdad, responded positively to Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani's position: to call the bluff of the US and vote for a list that was proclaimed to be hostile to the occupation. Sistani's supporters declared that voting on Sunday was the first step to kicking out the occupiers. The months ahead will put these declarations to a severe test. Meanwhile Moqtada al-Sadr's popular movement, which rejected the elections as a sham, is likely to make a comeback in its open resistance to the occupation.

The big vote in Kurdistan primarily reflects the Kurdish people's demand for national self-determination. The US administration has hitherto clamped down on these pressures. Henry Kissinger's recent proposal to divide Iraq into three states reflects a major shift among influential figures in the US who, led by Kissinger as secretary of state, ditched the Kurds in the 70s and brokered a deal between Saddam and the Shah of Iran.

George Bush and Tony Blair made heroic speeches on Sunday implying that Iraqis had voted to approve the occupation. Those who insist that the US is desperate for an exit strategy are misreading its intentions. The facts on the ground, including the construction of massive military bases in Iraq, indicate that the US is digging in to install and back a long-term puppet regime. For this reason, the US-led presence will continue, with all that entails in terms of bloodshed and destruction.

In the run-up to the poll, much of the western media presented it as a high-noon shootout between the terrorist Zarqawi and the Iraqi people, with the occupation forces doing their best to enable the people to defeat the fiendish, one-legged Jordanian murderer. In reality, Zarqawi-style sectarian violence is not only condemned by Iraqis across the political spectrum, including supporters of the resistance, but is widely seen as having had a blind eye turned to it by the occupation authorities. Such attitudes are dismissed by outsiders, but the record of John Negroponte, the US ambassador in Baghdad, of backing terror gangs in central America in the 80s has fuelled these fears, as has Seymour Hirsh's reports on the Pentagon's assassination squads and enthusiasm for the "Salvador option".

An honest analysis of the social and political map of Iraq reveals that Iraqis are increasingly united in their determination to end the occupation. Whether they participated in or boycotted


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