Straw: Iraq election will be imperfect

[bemildred]

Today's "No Shit, Sherlock!" award. What a drooling fool.

LONDON - Elections in Iraq this month will be "imperfect" because they will lack full participation, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in an interview published Wednesday, referring to an expected Sunni Muslim boycott.

"Obviously the higher the turnout, the greater the legitimacy of the whole process. And the reverse is also true," Straw told the Financial Times. "These elections are going to be imperfect."

Political leaders from the Sunni Muslim minority, which dominated Saddam Hussein's regime and all previous Iraqi governments, have called for a boycott of the January 30 election of a transitional national assembly.

Earlier this month, Iraq's main Sunni Islamic Party also said it could reject the constitution that the future assembly will be responsible for drawing up.

Middle East Online

[hatrack]

1. Thanks for the hot tip, Mr. Foreign Secretary

Couldn't have guessed that one without your help! :eyes:

[mike_c]

2. "imperfect...?"

Imperfect?! How about an utter sham? How about a travesty, a parody of democracy? The candidates are secret, as are the polling places. A significant proportion of the population will not participate, and among those who do, the political priorities will be shaped largely by the ongoing violence and the occupation rather than by the need to recover and rebuild. Oh yeah, that's an imperfect election.

[Redstone]

3. Gee, the people in the British government

are almost as smart and on the ball as the people in ours!

We'd never have know this without Mr Straw's astonishing deductive powers. Good thing we have the Brits as our allies.

Redstone

[Benhurst]

4. Oh, God. When, oh when, are they going to give the Strawman a brain? NT

[warrens]

5. Is that the latest Brit slang for

A TOTAL FUCKING DISASTER?