Bill Sykes' - In Retrospect
III.
(September 2006)
Bill Sykes
looks back in retrospect at material which has been published
in previous editions of "View from America",
in an attempt to determine whether the subject matter
written then is still applicable in today’s world.
These observations have been extracted from Bill Sykes
Newsletter "View from America"
February 2005 edition.
The up-coming election in American occupied
Iraq:
Election facts: Courtesy of The US Department of State. www.whitehouse.gov
6,000 voting centres, (give or take a few). 18,900 registered
candidates, (comprising 256 political entities, made
up of 196 parties, 33 coalition of parties, and 27 individuals).
A recent report quotes that 30,000 polling stations will
be open in Iraq on Sunday the 30th of January, 2005.
It has also been reported that a high proportion of the
fourteen, or is it fifteen million, Iraqis have registered
to vote, but the number that will actually vote is undetermined.
Even if the voting public does get to the election places
in one piece, they will be faced with little or no knowledge
of who the candidates are, and what they stand for.
Incidentally additional voting stations have been set
up in several places in America, Great Britain, and twelve
other countries to enable registered Iraqi national expatriates
residing in these countries to vote in the Iraqi election.
Due to the unstable situation in Iraq I will not attempt
to predict the outcome of this so-called election, but
I would suggest that Iraq can an expect a Shiite majority,
and presumably the powerful Iranian born religious leader,
the Ayatollah Ali Sustani, will become the spiritual
leader and institute an Islamic State similar to the
one commanded some years ago by the Iranian religious
leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Secondly if
a Shiite majority becomes the dominant power in the Iraqi
National Congress they obviously will be challenged by
the Sunni militants and the killing and anarchy will
continue.
We must remember that one symbolic election does not
a democracy make - It will be very interesting to see
what the future holds for the Iraqi people.
Note: to view the complete February 2005 edition
of “View from
America” please click HERE.
Disclaimer.
Some of the information gathered for this news letter
has been gleaned from American and International media
sources, (including the Internet), and as such is quoted
as accurately as possible. I try to obtain confirmation
from several outlets, so the text is a mixture of composite
news items and personal comments and therefore the
reader must make his/her judgement as to the reliability
and degree of accuracy of the subjects discussed.
We
welcome feedback about any of the contents of these articles.
Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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