Sadr’s an interesting figure. His party (he’s not standing for election himself) ran on an anti-corruption, anti-American, and anti-Iranian platform. His father opposed Saddam (and died for it) and the Sadrists opposed the US invasion (and rose twice against the occupation). Sadr became even more powerful after the invasion simply because the Sadrists provided security and services and were non-corrupt themselves.
To put it simply, even though he gained much from his father, he and the movement he is the head of appear to me to “deserve” their popularity. They have served their people and they have had integrity.
In this, they are similar to Hezbollah, who, whatever one thinks of them, have served their people and done what they said they would: Free their country from Israel, and keep it free.
As a general rule, I admire those with integrity, whether I agree with them on everything or not. I am no Muslim, nor likely ever would be (only the Sufis appeal to me at all), but I can always get behind feeding the poor, genuine anti-corruption, and the bravery and integrity to oppose tyranny.
I am sure there are nuances of the Iraq situation I’m missing; I don’t keep up, I don’t speak or read Arabic, Persian (to understand Iran), Kurdish, and so on. And just getting the largest vote bloc doesn’t guarantee leading the government.
But overall, this seems like a good thing to me.
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bruce wilder
All the blocs are smallish relative to the whole, an indication perhaps of Iraq’s highly fragmented politics. The linked Reuters piece pegs Sadr’s party at 52 seats out of the 165 needed to form a government in the 329 member Parliament. And, falling participation rates indicate that people are losing faith in electoral politics — most eligible voters did not vote.
Iraq could benefit from a highly organized government able to tackle the serious infrastructure issues while the country still has oil revenues to finance such efforts. The birthplace of one of the great hydraulic civilizations needs water, sanitation, electricity, housing and transportation, all of which require an effective bureaucracy, as does the fiscal capacity to collect taxes on oil revenues and the economic rents that will flow from real property in a society that works, that is a society with a competent municipal government.
My expectation would be that American news media will hide the wrecking hand of U.S. policy in the region, mostly by putting forward silly narratives to organize a few 3 minute reports.
john c. halasz
Not only that, but the Sadrist ran in alliance with the Iraqi Communist Party. After the 1st coup in 1958, which was followed by several successive coups the ICP rose to a position of considerable influence in Iraqi national politics. The U.S. response was to foment a further coup by the Iraqi Baathist Party, (resulting eventually in you-know-who), which sought to wipe out the ICP. After the U.S. invasion the ICP re-emerged to spear-head labor interests, though the leaders where subject to assassination. Last laughs?
Webstir
“I can always get behind feeding the poor, genuine anti-corruption and the bravery and integrity to oppose tyranny — of the elites.”
There you go, Ian. Fixed that sentence for you. I did so because I think we hamstring our cause if we don’t include the source of the tyranny. The tyranny doesn’t stem from tyrants. It stems from the rich, who are more often than not, you guessed it, tyrants.
The only dangerous minority is the rich.
These days, a democrat is just a republican in sheep’s clothing. They both prostrate themselves before the spiders in Italian clothing.
(Wilco shout-out): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc5BgR8Cz5A
Tell everyone you know — and tell them often.
The only dangerous minority is the rich.
Willy
It’s the spring of freedom baby! After a US backed coup or two, another tyrant will be in charge and having come full circle, it’ll be Operation Freedom Redux.