Welcome To Democracy, Baghdad Style

Something is happening on the streets of Baghdad.

While we were turned away, eyes on the Vatican and a royal wedding, the citizens of Baghdad celebrated the second anniversary of the fall of Saddam by marching on Firdos Square to demand an end to the American occupation. In a display of political moxie previously unsuspected, they also demanded a trial for the deposed dictator.

Memo to George W. Bush: Welcome to democracy, Baghdad style.

Hark back to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, which the president cheapened by seeming to claim democracy’s triumph as his own, neglecting to note that one of the most critical promises of Viktor Yushchenko was a pledge to withdraw Ukrainian troops from Iraq – a promise he delivered.

Welcome to democracy, Ukrainian style.

Recall the bombing of Madrid, a legacy of terror the president shares with Al Qaeda, and the Spanish people’s immediate response to the lies of their government. Witness the dramatic decline in support for Prime Minister Tony Blair, one of the most popular leaders in modern British history, forced to call for early elections before his decline yields to an avalanche. Even Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose stranglehold on Italian media crowns him the least democratic leader in Europe, has yielded to the overwhelming demand of his people to withdraw from Iraq.

Everywhere democracy has a voice, it cries out with resounding clarity: No to the war in Iraq! No to American empire! No to the leadership of George W. Bush!

God bless democracy.

The irony of this president’s claim as the world’s champion of democracy is rich indeed, especially since his claim to democracy in America is tarnished by layer upon layer of doubt, outright fraud and shame. The illegitimacy of his first election is chronicled and documented beyond all doubt (except in the proceedings of a politically corrupted Supreme Court) but the mounting evidence of decisive fraud in his re-election has been suppressed by a compliant media, seemingly sworn to disallow a repeat of the millennial disgrace.

While we were absorbed in the heart-wrenching saga of Terri Schiavo (an engaging tragedy with social implications but wholly undeserving of wall-to-wall media obsession), few noted yet another report by a consortium of statistical scientists which estimated the probability that the 2004 presidential election was not impacted by fraud at roughly one million to one.

The farcical explanation offered by the exit polling company for results that declared John Kerry the winner by a decisive three percent (i.e., that Kerry voters were more likely to cooperate with pollsters) was exposed as "implausible." Implausible, indeed. If ever there was a compelling case for media complicity with the party in power, it was their universal and emphatic acceptance and promulgation of this ridiculous theory.

Numbers can be twisted and distorted almost beyond recognition but only if they are acted upon by a corrupting influence. In and of themselves, numbers do not lie. They operate according to defined and universal rules. When the numbers came in on November 2, 2003, they were dutifully recorded, compiled and the results were posted according to a methodology and formula that was right in 2000 and, in fact, has never been wrong. That was when the fix came in.

In all other nations on earth, including Ukraine, a significant discrepancy between exit polling and election results is the critical indicator of fraud. Little wonder international monitors were prohibited from observing the 2004 election.

Clearly, American democracy as it currently stands is not the democracy that Jefferson, Paine and Franklin had in mind. It is a process that can and will be corrupted to serve the interests of the powerful in defiance of the people. It is the cynicism of Henry Kissinger when he scorned the very concept of democracy in Latin America: Why should we allow an election to stand in the way of our interests?

The enduring shame of the 2004 election is two-fold: First, that we allowed the Republicans to do it again. Second, that the Democrats could not find the guts to oppose the war. Had they done so, the voice of democracy would have declared itself loudly and clearly, just as it has and will continue to do everywhere else in the world.

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). HIS WORK HAS BEEN POSTED ON COUNTERPUNCH & DISSIDENT VOICE.

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