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"
March
2005 Edition.
One election does not a democracy make:
A dismal turnout of the Iraqi people, (for obvious reasons), during the
31st of January 2005 election came up with an unverified count of 8.5 million
votes out of the estimated 14.2 million eligible voters, (59%), giving the Shiite
Islamic party more than 47% of the votes, followed by the Kurdish Alliance with
25%, and the American sponsored Iraqi Interim Government, under the Interim Prime
Minister Ayad Allawi, a distant and dismal third with 14%. This means of
course that the Shiite party will assume a majority in the new Iraqi Assembly
with 140 seats out of 275.
It has been reported that the outgoing American
sponsored Interim Prime Minister, Ayad Alawi, has been
trying to form a coalition to challenge what is expected
to be the Shiite majority choice of Ibrahim Jaafari for
the Premiership, Also in line, is rogue financier and
supplier of dangerously false information about weapons
of mass destruction existing in Iraq to a very receptive
President Bush. Of course one must mention that reports
indicate that Ibrahim Jaafari is not exactly as squeaky-clean
as one would wish as he has a dubious background of ties
to Iran and terrorist organizations. There hasn’t
been much jubilation at the White House since the result of the vote was announced
on Sunday the 13th of February 2005 and the Bush Administration has been very
quiet on the subject. Perhaps they envisaged that the Iraqis would be so pleased
to be able to participate in a general election, and out of gratitude for their
so-called freedom would vote for the American sponsored Interim Government.
Instead it would appear that there is the distinct possibility
that Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, (the Iraqi Shiite religious
leader with definite Iranian connections), will lead
Iraq into a religious Muslim state similar to the one
introduced into Iran by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after
the Shah of Persia was exiled.
So much for your ambition Mr. President to force a form
of American democracy on an Islamic country---It would
appear to me that the predicted civil war between the
Kurds, (currently at odds with the Turks), the Sunni,
and the Shiite population, grows ever closer. The
results of America and Great Britain going to war against
Iraq, to over throw a despotic dictator has not turned
out as the American Administration expected with joyous
Iraqi people welcoming the victorious American troops
and their new found freedom by embracing democracy. America’s
lack of an objective foreign policy, and failure to recognise
and make plans for the aftermath of this war, has created
a total disastrous chaotic scenario of anarchy which
will take many years to unravel in order to bring the
Middle East back to some resemblance of normality - whatever
the word normality means in that part of the world.
The current Middle East political scene:
Now the Iraqi election is over and done with, for the
time being anyway - chaos and bloodshed remains a dominant
factor in the daily life of the Iraqi people - nothing
has changed, and the chance of a civil war between the
Sunnis, the Kurds, and the Shiites, (with an interest
by Turkey who are currently on the sidelines), becomes
more imminent as the months go by.
It has been stated, and acknowledged, that the United
States have violated Iranian airspace a number of times
in the past six months, or longer, by sending unmanned
surveillance drones to spy on and seek evidence of any
work being done by Iran to produce nuclear weapons. A recent explosion in the vicinity of an Iranian
nuclear power station, (which Iran claims has been built to produce electricity),
has caught the world’s attention and there has
been much conjecture as to whether it was an accidental
explosion or maybe a missile attack by sources currently
unidentified.
Then there is the case of the huge bomb
attack in Beirut, killing the Lebanese Prime Minister,
Rafik Hariri, who apparently was an outspoken critic
of Syria. The United States although not directly accusing
Syria of the assassination of Rafik Hariri has recalled
its Ambassador and demanded that Syria withdraw the fifteen
thousand or so troops that they have stationed in Lebanon,
and have requested that the countries of this world implement,
or increase, embargoes against Syria.
This of course makes me wonder if President Bush even
knows that his Vice President’s
former company Halliburton are still doing business in
Iran and have multi-million dollar contracts for exploration
and development of Iran’s natural gas
production capability. President Putin of Russia
stated recently that Russia would still continue to support
and cooperate with the Iranian Government in the development
of nuclear energy electrical production facilities, provided
that the spent plutonium/uranium rods are returned to
Russia. Which begs the question as to how many other
countries, (such as, say the United Kingdom, France,
Germany, etc), are still contributing to Iran’s
implied nuclear delinquency.
The plot thickens - Iran and Syria apparently have recently
signed a "common
front" agreement, whatever that means.
Mr. President I don’t know if you are aware of
the fact that Iran has three times the population of
Iraq, (around 42 million), and a "common front" with
Syria would add another 10 million, making the conjoined
twins a far tougher adversary to deal with than the 14
million Iraqi population. As I have said many times previously
- oh what a terrible web we humans weave.
These observations have been extracted from Bill Sykes
Newsletter "View from America" March
2005 Edition
Disclaimer:
Some of the information gathered for this newsletter
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
on each subject from several outlets, so the text is
a mixture of composite news items and personal comments
and therefore the reader must make his/her own 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
|
