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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / The Day After the Election

The Day After the Election

by John Cole|  December 16, 200511:13 am| 12 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, War on Terror aka GSAVE®

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Cautious optimism seems to be the theme of this Robin Wright story:

For President Bush, the strong turnout for Iraq’s election yesterday may represent the best day since the fall of Baghdad 32 months ago because all major factions participated in the political process, according to U.S. and Middle East analysts. But the sobering reality, they added, is that the vote by itself did not resolve Iraq’s lingering political disputes.

After weeks of an increasingly divisive debate at home that helped sink the president’s approval rating to an all-time low, the Bush administration appeared buoyed by the throngs at the polls and the low violence. Flanked in the Oval Office by six young Iraqis, all with a purple-stained finger signifying they had voted, Bush called the election a “major milestone” on the road to democracy.

“This is a major step forward in achieving our objective, which is . . . having a democratic Iraq, a country able to sustain itself and defend itself, a country that will be an ally in the war on terror and a country that will set such a powerful example to others in the region, whether they live in Iran or Syria,” he said.

***

But even some Republicans urged caution in assessing the results yesterday, while congressional Democrats called on the White House to use the election to accelerate the transition and create the conditions for the redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq.

In Baghdad for election day, Republican Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) said the vote provided a “second chance,” but he also warned that the successful day should not be interpreted as a solution to Iraq’s problems. “Really, in many ways, they’re just beginning,” he said in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show.

Anthony H. Cordesman, a Persian Gulf military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed. He said the vote is not the long-awaited turning point but rather a trigger for launching a new political process next year that will include amending a constitution. That, he said, will better determine whether Iraq has a chance of emerging out of turmoil.

Milestone is probably a more apt description than turning point. Just another step in a long process, and one that seems to have gone off rather wll. That is a good thing and a cause for optimism, but it doesn’t turn Fallujah into Fargo.

The accompanying headline made me laugh, though:

Experts Cautious in Assessing Iraq Election: High Turnout, Low Violence a Positive Step but Not a Turning Point, Analysts Say

Every time I see a headline touting experts, I am reminded of my favorite all-time Onion story- Nation’s Experts Give Up:

Citing years of frustration over their advice being misunderstood, misrepresented or simply ignored, America’s foremost experts in every field collectively tendered their resignation Monday.

“Despite all our efforts to advise this nation, America still throws out its recyclables, keeps its guns in unlocked cabinets where children have easy access, eats three times as much red meat as is recommended, watches seven hours of TV per day, swims less than 10 minutes after eating, and leaves halogen lights on while unattended,” said Dr. Simon Peavy, vice-president of the National Association of Experts. “Since you don’t seem to care about things you don’t understand, screw you. We quit.”

“My final piece of expert advice,” Peavy added, “is that all of you people should just go fuck yourselves.”

The Onion is pure genius.

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Reader Interactions

12Comments

  1. 1.

    rilkefan

    December 16, 2005 at 11:21 am

    You may enjoy this review of Tetlock’s new book.

  2. 2.

    Krista

    December 16, 2005 at 11:22 am

    That was a great bit from the Onion.

    I’m pretty much with you on this one, John. This is a good step, and it will hopefully lead to more good steps (hopefully sooner than another 32 months.)

    The only thing that I’m dreading, though, is the thought that there are going to be a lot of hardcore Bush supporters (and probably Bush himself), who are going to use this good step as a launchpad from which to claim that every single thing that has been done during the war was good, and wonderful, and justified, because it all somehow led up to this moment.

  3. 3.

    Steve S

    December 16, 2005 at 11:47 am

    Ok, get me Ozzy back on the phone.

    We’re going to need him to sing ‘Momma, I’m coming home’ after all.

    WOO HOO! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! VICTORY ACHIEVED!

    Iraq is now a fully functioning Democracy, and our soldiers are coming home, baby!

  4. 4.

    Paddy O'Shea

    December 16, 2005 at 12:16 pm

    I have always found it telling that Bushie and his media Bobbleheads have always attempted to focus the national conversation on the fact that the Iraqis are voting, but never seem to show much desire to discuss what exactly it is they are voting for.

    Here’s an article by William Rivers Pitt that pretty much spells it out.

    http://preacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=7479

  5. 5.

    Paddy O'Shea

    December 16, 2005 at 12:19 pm

    http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=7479

  6. 6.

    Cyrus

    December 16, 2005 at 12:49 pm

    That is a good thing and a cause for optimism, but it doesn’t turn Fallujah into Fargo.

    And we should be glad of that. Did you ever see that movie?

  7. 7.

    guyermo

    December 16, 2005 at 1:43 pm

    I’ll wait until they can have an election without the entire country being in lock-down mode before I start cheering about improvements in the security situation.

    Every day would be low-violence if noone could drive anywhere without being killed by US/Iraqi/”coalition” troops. Therefore I call bullshit on anyone saying that this election was more of a success because of the lack of violence.

  8. 8.

    Steve S

    December 16, 2005 at 2:16 pm

    I’ll wait until they can have an election without the entire country being in lock-down mode before I start cheering about improvements in the security situation.

    Why are you such a defeatist?

    We have Victory! Mission Accomplished. The Iraqis have voted.

    Times have changed and times are strange
    Here I come, but I ain’t the same
    Mama, I’m coming home

  9. 9.

    Pb

    December 16, 2005 at 2:39 pm

    So what have you guys heard about Iran smuggling in thousands of ballots, trying to buy votes, etc.?

  10. 10.

    Steve S

    December 16, 2005 at 3:46 pm

    Pb – Don’t spoil the party!

    Times gone by seem to be
    You could have been a better friend to me
    Mama, I’m coming home

  11. 11.

    Birkel

    December 16, 2005 at 6:54 pm

    As The BlogFather says:
    It’s a process not an event.

    And as somebody famous said:
    Even the longest journey begins with a single step.

    But hey, let’s just fake being encouraged by positive news and game plan our Big Political Victory in 2006TM, okay?

  12. 12.

    Birkel

    December 16, 2005 at 6:55 pm

    That TM was supposed to be superscript. In the preview it was superscript.

    *sigh*

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