Honest to Goodness, the Bars Weren't Open This Morning—They Must've Been Voting for the President or Something

Seymour Hersh's latest report for The New Yorker says that Washington ran a covert operation to help Iyad Allawi's list in Iraq's January election.

Comments

[Franklin Harris]

Is is as unexpected as the results of an expose that uncovers that the sky is blue.

[John]

Yeah! More X/Knitters/Exene/John Doe references, please!

We're desperate. Get used to it.

[Hakluyt]

Franklin Harris,

The U.S. has a long tradition of trying to strong-arm foreign elections.

[Franklin Harris]

One of these days, I'll post something here without a typo!

Anyway: "Is is" should be "It is."

[joe]

The standing question about the Great NeoCon Crusade has been whether they are trying to promote democracy, or merely "democracy."

Score one for Option B.

[phocion]

That's quite a conundrum. Do you attempt to rig an election to prevent another nation's rigging from giving a majority of votes to one party? Is an election specially rigged to be more representative an improvement over a government that was simply appointed? Glad I'm not in charge of answering those questions. Obviously it will be some time before elections there meet Western standards, US meddling or not.

As for the timing of the election, it has yet to be seen whether it was held too late or too early. If things stabilize somewhat after the constitution is ratified and the first elections under it are held, then I think the case can be made that the elections were too late. If the establishment of a sovereign state leads to greater sectarian warfare, then it was too early. Six months out, I think the jury's still out on the wisdom of having the election when we had it.

[Hakluyt]

phocion,

In the main the U.S. was intimidated by the Shi'ites in Iraq; indeed, its because of their protests that elections were held in the first place. The Bush administration wouldn't have held an election were it not for domestic Iraqi pressure. That's why their claims about leading the way re: the election are hopelessly dishonest.

[joe]

To be fair, Bush also brought Allawi into our country last fall to try to tip the outcome of our elections, too.

[Josh]

Is is as unexpected as the results of an expose that uncovers that the sky is blue.

This is Sy Hersh: the correct analogy is an expose that reveals the sky is green.

[Dynamist]

Josh: Wouldn't it be that the sky was recolored as part of a military-industrial scheme, and the government cooperated in a cover-up to convince us that the sky was supposed to look just as it does?

[joe]

Wait, wait, is he fat? Hersch, is he fat?

Dammit, how are we going to get people to ignore the information in the article if we can't call the guy fat?

[Dynamist]

"Hey, everybody, the fat guy is crying wolf again! Who wants to read his article?"

[Matt]

When has Sy Hersh been wrong?

[Hakluyt]

Matt,

Hawks of every stripe have been after Hersh ever since My Lai; some even call him a "terrorist." 🙂

[Matt]

My Lai happened, right? The Israelis have nukes, right (The Samson Option)? Prisoners were tortured at Abu Ghraib, right?

I guess we havent invaded Iran yet. Wasnt that predicted for this summer? Seems to me he's right alot more than he's wrong.

[Palchak]

Counterpoint: Yes, and so what? Politicians attempting to manipulate political process; film at eleven.

[gaius marius]

he has been wrong in the past, mr matt -- he's not superhuman. but most of the time he's been extraordinarily correct.

it's simply easier, if you are of a certain political religion, to demonize the man than to deal with the unpleasant truths he has a habit of writing about.

i will say that hersh's exposure of what we all knew to be quite likely is important simply because his work documents and evidences the event in as rigorous a manner as is possible in the national-security-secrecy state.

[joe]

Wrong? He's been WRONG?

We can't trust somebody who has a history of getting stories wrong, regarless of his evidence.

We should just trust the president. He wouldn't steer us wrong.

[Dynamist]

joe: At last the pills are taking effect. I promise everything will be clear soon...