Newsgroup: it.politica.pds
Titolo: Why Iraqis should boycott the election

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D1C660D3-31C9-44C5-925F-4070AC17D606
By Mohammed al-Obaidi 
Forty-seven Iraqi political parties met on 17 November and made the
decision to boycott the coming Iraq election. The People's Struggle
Movement (Al-Kifah al-Shabi), which I represent, was one of those
groups.
After carefully studying Iraq's situation, considering the military
occupation as well as economic and national interests, we felt there
were enough reasons for any patriotic Iraqi to boycott the proposed
January election. 
It is a violation of all international laws. International charters
that regulate the relationship between occupier and occupied do not
give occupying authorities the mandate to instigate a change in the
country's social, economic and political structure. 
The planned election will change the political composition of Iraq to
suit the interests of the occupation authorities. The change will also
lead to ethnic, sectarian and religious divisions that the Iraqi state
and people had succeeded to avoid.
Historically, Iraqis have been able to coexist and the spectre of
civil war did not loom until the country was stricken by the US-led
occupation. 
Many Iraqi political activists believe the coming election results
have been decided already. They also believe the electoral process
will not be free and democratic but will be exclusively for those who
maintain strong ties with the US occupation authorities. We feel that
all steps have been taken to secure full US domination of
decision-makers in Iraq. 
 
A look at the electoral process and the composition of the current
national council reveals that the election's main mission will be to
install some of the country's most notorious politicians who have
constantly spoken proudly of their links to international intelligence
agencies. 
The coming election will give power to every politician who has
assisted the invaders and collaborated with them to consolidate the
occupation. Therefore, we believe that even after the election, the
decision-making process will be taken in the US embassy in Baghdad and
the elected government will be no more than a vehicle to carry out
Washington's decisions. 
It is very difficult for any sensible person to believe that the US
would give up its domination of Iraq after spending billions of
dollars and sacrificing the lives of hundreds of its soldiers. 
We cannot believe that after all this the US will simply allow free
and democratic elections to take place in Iraq that could install a
government which could make it its first priority to tell foreign
troops to get out.
We strongly believe that the main purpose of the election process is
to secure a government that will facilitate long-lasting agreements
with the US to keep its forces on Iraqi soil and transform the country
into an American colony. 
The US administration works hard to portray the Iraq election as a
political achievement to cover over the scar that the war has left on
its credibility. 
Washington will use the election card to pull the wool over the eyes
of the international community to prevent it from seeing the tragic
consequences that the war has left on the Iraqi people.
For all these reasons, many Iraqi political activists feel it is their
national duty to boycott the 30 January election.
Professor Mohammed al-Obaidi is the spokesman for the People's
Struggle Movement (Al-Kifah al-Shabi) in Iraq, and works as a
University Professor in the UK. He was born and educated in
al-Adhamiyah district in Baghdad. This article, was written
exclusively for Aljazeera.net, and was translated from Arabic.

           UNISCITI A NOI ADERISCI A FORZA ITALIA !
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