Originally posted by Hortlund
Saddam Hussein is elected. In about as fair elections as the Palestinian elections will be.
Do you think Hussein is a democratically elected leader too?
Hortlund,
Has Iraq had an election since Hussein slaughtered His Ba'th party cohorts in the late 70s? It was my impression that following a Soviet Model, the Party was elected, but the man was not. As in the Ba'th party controlled the government, then after his Predesessor died, Hussein held a bloodbath to clean out the party. Once he concentrated power in 1978(?) there was no longer a need for elections. Of course that doesn't mean that they didn't have elections... Sorry, slow day at work. Steam of consiousness posting here.
As far as the Palestinian elections go, at least we can expect that there will be about 1 billion NGOs running around the landscape watching the elections and looking for irregularities. If they are a sham, they will be seen as a sham.
-Sikboy