Iraq, Ballots and Pistachios

Thomas Friedman [RSS] laments the reluctance of the Europeans and Arabs to get involved in securing the Iraqi elections, in one of his most clever columns in some time.

The money ‘graph:

If only we could call the Iraqi election, “A Seminar on the European Defense Initiative: Why NATO Is passé and E.D.I. Is the Future”; then we could get thousands of Europeans to take part. If only we could call the Iraqi elections, “A Seminar on George Bush and Genghis Khan: Why Bush Is Worse”; then the Arab League would send so many people, we’d be turning them away. We’d be talking pay-per-view on Al Jazeera.

Quite.

FILED UNDER: Europe, Iraq War, Middle East, , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. ken says:

    Friedman should be more worried about his own government ignoring election fraud and abuse right here in America. When the Supreme Court of the United States stops ballots from being counted because counting such ballots might threaten the legitimacy of the Bush presidency we have a problem. I wonder about people like Friedman who think democracy is more important for others than it is for us right here at home.

  2. alex says:

    Ah Ken… a true liberal.

    I love how you did the three things liberals love to do most.

    1. You started talking about a different topic, totally ignoring the subject at hand.

    2. You brought up a conspiracy theory about those evil republicans.

    3. Because of the two above things, you failed to make an intelligent point.

  3. ken says:

    alex, I am not talking about a conspriracy. Scalia was up front and open about his reasons for stopping the ballots from being counted. He said that if he allowed them to be counted then Bush’s presidency could be considered illegitimate.

  4. LJD says:

    BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
    Oh, the alarm clock just went off. It must be time to wake up and smell the coffee!