Elmo Has a Question: Who Voted For the Kurd?

It is odd that a Kurd, Talabani, who's part of a				An election cannot be legitimate when it is
minority ethnic group, was elected president in an				conducted under illegal foreign military occupation.
Arabic land. But no one in the media has focused				It is neither free nor fair. Yet based on this illegal
on that.				war and fraudulent election, a 275-seat
Iraq is as famous for its Kurdish jokes and riddles				"transitional National Assembly" was put in place.
as America is for its Polack ones. After the				With a total of some 8.4 million votes cast, a 58
January 30, 2005 elections, Iraqis came up with a				% turnout, the Iraqi Electoral Commission had this
new riddle: If 60% of Iraqis are Shia, 35% Sunni,				to report:
and 15% Kurds, who voted for the Kurd?				The official counting records were almost always
According to CIA’s World Factbook, the				completed properly (i.e. filling in a number on the
population of Iraq is 75%-80% Arab, 15%-20%				correct line) and signed by the required
Kurdish, and 5% Assyrian or other ethnicities. Yet				officials.Observers reported discrepancies
Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, was chosen as Iraq’s				during the ballot reconciliation in 15 to 20 percent
president on April 6, 2005, becoming the first				of monitored casesBallot counting was
leader of an Arab country who is not himself an				reported to have started late in some places,
Arab. His leadership proved to satisfy both Sunnis				although lack of electricity and the security
and Shiites to such extent that he was reelected				context were contributing factors. In terms of
in April 2006.				the local counting, frequent problems were
Did you ever imagine that one day you might				reported concerning both intimidation of the
be president of the Iraqi republic?				counting staff and interruptions to the counting
BBC’s Jim Muir asked President Talabani in				process that caused delays...There were reports
April 2005.				that some polling station officials refused to
No, President Talabani responded. Of				co-operate with the electoral observers. This
course he didn’t. Kurds are an Iranian				limited the overall transparency of the counting
ethno-linguistic group, like Persians, Lurs, Baluch				process... There were some local problems with
and Bakhtiari. They are fluent in Persian which is				the tamper evidence bags being used improperly
why Talabani, during his speeches, stumbles over				(placed in with the ballots rather than in a
his learned usage of Arabic, sort of the				separate box to be sent to IECI headquarters) or
way our American president does —				not being used at all. Also, some ballot boxes
except in our president’s case, English is his				were not properly locked.
native language.				Voter turnout ranged from 89% in the Kurdish
What do you think it means for Iraqi				region of Dahuk to two percent in the Sunni
Kurdistan, for the Kurds of Iraq, that you're				region of Al Anbar. Many Sunnis didn’t
president? Jim Muir asked.				show up to the polls, because they, like other
First, it means that the Kurds are equal				Iraqis, opposed these elections and refused to
citizens, they are no more second-class				participate in a political process dominated by the
citizensIn the past, Iraqi governments were				U.S. After all, Paul Bremer, another non-Arab,
always looking on them as second-class citizens of				set up the rules for this election. The High
the country.				Commission for Elections had the authority to
Presidency or not, Kurds will continue to be				disqualify any party that did not meet with
viewed as second-class citizen because none of				Washington's approval. Before he left his post,
the countries they reside in wants them to have				Bremer issued a series of articles which cannot be
an independent state. About 55% of the world's				reversed by any election.
Kurds live in Turkey, 22% in Iran, 16.5% in Iraq				For others the fear of violence kept them at
and 6.5% in Syria (CIA’s World Factbook).				home. At least eight candidates were killed in the
In the 20th century, all four countries have				run-up to the election, and many others received
suppressed many Kurdish uprisings. Then suddenly				daily death threats. Many of the Iraqis who did
in 2005, Iraq was kind enough to give one of its				vote were manipulated to the polls with money
men the position of Iraqi president?				and food rations. With 7,785 mostly unnamed
Kurds’ prehistory is not very well known.				candidates on the lists of 83 coalitions of political
Estimated at about 35 million people, they make				parties, voters had little idea who they will be
up the largest ethnic group in the world who do				voting for.
not have a nation-state of their own. Preparing to				The lists were mostly sectarian. Kurdish lists were
one day declare independence, the Kurdistan				focused on winning Kirkuk for Kurds, and obtaining
region in Iraq has been functioning as a				a top government post. Shiites, whose revered
semi-independent country. They have their own				Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani had issued a fatwa
educational system and their own police and militia,				instructing his followers to vote, wanted
which are now turned into an army and are not a				federalism, others an Iranian-style regime. Rather
part of the central command in Baghdad. They				than having their own lists, the Association of
have refused to allow other units of the Iraqi				Muslim Scholars, a Sunni group, was calling for a
army to enter Kurdistan. Since 2004, Kurdish				boycott in protest against the destruction of
politicians have demanded the departure of some				Fallujah by the U.S. military.
200,000 Arabs who settled in oil-rich Kirkuk.				With the massacre that occurred in Fallujah, as
He [Jalal Talabani] has dedicated his life to the				well as in the rest of the Sunni Triangle, it’s
cause of Iraqi liberation, President Bush said.				surprising that even two percent showed up. For
Actually, Talabani has dedicated his life to the				instance, after the 2003 invasion, Fallujah was one
cause of the Kurdish liberation. In his lifetime, he				of the least affected areas of Iraq. Despite its
had first joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party,				pro-American mayor, Tahah Bidaywi Hamed, U.S.
KDP, which was then run by Mustafa Barzani and				soldiers did great damage, and there were reports
he founded the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the				that cluster bombs and white phosphorus, a
P.U.K. These two Kurdish parties have led				controversial incendiary weapon, were used on
Peshmerga (literally, those who face				the city. By the end of operations, the city lay in
death), who used Guerilla Warfare style tactics				ruins. Fallujah’s compensation commissioner
against Iraqi forces.				reported that 36,000 of the city’s 50,000
Since Kurdistan is next door to Iran, Jalal Talabani				homes were destroyed, along with 60 schools
has a very long tradition of good relations with				and 65 mosques and shrines.
Iran. During the Iraq-Iran war, Talabani and Barzani				So the men and women of that region might
ran militias that fought alongside the Iranians and				have voted were they not busy mourning the
against the Iraqi soldiers. They worked with the				loss of loved ones, finding new homes or just
enemy against their own national army.				scrimmaging for ways to stay alive. The
There’s a word for that. Treason.				situation made safe and possible for the Kurds,
There’s another word, Halabja,				they got to the voting polls fine, resulting in the
which stemmed from this fighting.				high 89% outcome.
Given his little bio, Talabani is in no way an Iraqi,				Despite all this, A Kurdish interim minister of
not by birth nor by heart. As Saddam Hussein				human rights, Bakhtiar Amin, said, The
watched Talabani’s election from his prison				parliament elected a president, and it's not like
cell on a TV, only one who really knows the				before where the transfer of power was done
history of Iraq could imagine what he was thinking.				through the shedding of blood, military coups and
Oh, those Brits and Americans — never				invasions. Typical Kurdi, an Iraqi would say.
know who they’ll put next into				And U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said
Iraq’s political office. First a foreign-born				that participation had "exceeded all expectations."
king in the 1920’s, then a leading member				Meanwhile, President Bush remarked, By
of the Baath Party in the 1970’s, now a				participating in free elections [Iraqi] men and
Kurd who can barely speak Arabic. But who will				women have taken rightful control of their
believe the nonsense that a Shia or Sunni or				country's destiny, and they have chosen a future
Christian or Turk risked their life to vote for a				of freedom and peace. Typical Bush
sect outside of their own? And what about me?				administration, an American would say.
I’m still president of Iraq.				These elections no more reflected the will of the
Technically, Saddam Hussein was correct in				Iraqi people than did the elections held between
maintaining his title of presidency during the				1925 and 1958 under the British occupation. During
occupancy. There are two reasons for that, which				that time, the British struggled to end the violence
Kofi Annan summed up during an interview he				while teaching Iraq democracy and keeping their
gave to Owen Bennett-Jones for BBC. From				foot in the door. They came up with this solution:
our point of view and from the Charter point of				place on the throne an Iraqi king, foreign born, and
view the war was illegal You cannot have				surround him by expatriate military officers who
credible elections if the security conditions continue				had spent most of their adult lives elsewhere.
as they are now.				Sounds familiar?

Democracy

Elmo Has a Question: Who Voted For the Kurd?