The New Yorker calls interference in Iraqi elections

Despite administration assertions that the US would only support a free election, President Bush approved a plan to covertly provide support to US favored candidates. The NY Times is reporting the next issue of The New Yorker will include an article by Seymour Hersh in which Hersh alleges that BushCo not only tried to interefere in the Iraqi elections, they probably did even though the proposal was officially withdrawn due to the opposition from Congress. [emphasis added]

Despite the denials by some Bush administration officials on Saturday, others who took part in or were briefed on the discussion said they could not rule out the possibility that the United States and its allies might have provided secret aid to augment the broad overt support provided to Iraqi candidates and parties by the State Department, through organizations like the International Democratic Institute.

They said they were basing their comments primarily on the intensity of discussions within the administration about the potential adverse consequences of a victory by Iraqi parties hostile to the United States. [emphasis added]

Last December, Bush warned Iran and Syria to stay out of the election process in Iraq [emphasis added]

US President George Bush threatened Syria and Iran on Monday with new diplomatic or economic measures to pressure both countries to stay away from Iraqi politics.

The United States had several ways to retaliate if the two countries failed to heed his warning, Aljazeera quoted Bush as saying.

and told Al-Arabiya

"Iranians should not be trying to unduly influence the elections"

Apparently the US stands alone as the sole arbiter of what is and is not an acceptable form of government and who should be permitted in leadership positions.

Bush said he does not think the elections will produce a pro-Iranian government in Baghdad.

Maybe W had some inside information to have remained so confident, but it looks like the statement below needs to be annotated to include a caveat that if he didn't like the outcome, he'd have cried foul to get his way (see, also, Haiti for another stellar example of nation/government building).

"The future of Iraq depends upon Iraqi nationalism and the Iraq character — the character of Iraq and Iraqi people emerging.

tags: Iraq elections; Iraq war; Bush Administration; Foreign Policy; Politics

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