Friday, November 02, 2007

Allawi wants to lead Iraq

by shamanic

You can tell because he's just outlined his "Save Iraq" plan in the New York Times. Paper of record, yes. Paper of record for Iraq: not so much.

Still, he calls for a dramatic overhaul of the Iraqi election system, pointing out that the previous election involved "closed lists", i.e., most voters didn't actually know who the party's candidates were until immediately before voting, if then. They were voting for parties, not candidates, which I'm sure helped with the whole sectarianism thing.

It's worth a read, but on some level the piece made me sad. The only constituency Allawi can possibly be courting by publishing in the Times is Iraq's American masters. It isn't even like he's providing an update for the general public. He's laying out hard policy ideas to curry favor with politicians and bureaucrats who can help elevate him where he lives.

I guess this is what it's like to live in a colonial nation, but it stinks of all the humiliation and personal abasement that ended the last era of colonial domination in the world.

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