December 23, 2004

The election IS a weapon of the war...

Normblog quotes Naomi Klein:

...We need to deepen our discussion of what democracy means because they have taken this word 'democracy' and... made it into a dirty word. Arundhati Roy talked of [the US] bombing Afghanistan with butter. Here they are bombing [the country] with ballots: literally, the election as a weapon of war...

I get it. Of course. I wasn't thinking deeply enough. War is bad. Peace is good. Especially good if it keeps people in proper subjection to their government masters, and keeps decisions in the hands of large international organizations. And war is bad especially if it leads to the little people making decisions they are not qualified to understand, unlike Western intellectuals.

Bad news, Naomi. The election IS a weapon of the war. And it is directed just as much against YOU as it is against the Ba'athists and terrorists you suddenly find rather appealing. It is characteristic of Fourth-Generation Warfare that the battleground is everywhere. Terrorists can undermine and attack us in the newsrooms and faculty lounges and parish-halls of the western world. But IT CUTS BOTH WAYS!!

Our war against you Tranzis is also everywhere. When Thatcher and Reagan pushed the Soviet Union to the breaking-point, that led to elections in places like Poland or Bulgaria...and led thereby to friends and allies now for the forces of freedom currently fighting in Iraq. There are now millions of people in Eastern Europe who understand exactly what you are up to, and reject it. When Afghan women made ritual preparations for death, and then lined up to vote, it was a blow aimed just as much at Naomi Klein as it was against the Taliban. When Iraqis do the same about one month from now, it will be a slap in the face for John Kerry and Jaques Chirac and Noam Chomsky and Kofi Annan and Michael Moore.

And the slime-animals you are allied with, who are murdering innocent people to try to prevent the elections, are creating millions of people who understand what is happening, and who know just who wants them kept in chains. Millions who will see YOU clearly, for the vile fraud that you are...

Democracy IS a dirty word--if you believe in rule by the elite. If you think "the voters are morons." If you think that what the little people need is guidance from "activists" and "progressives," rather than a chance to decide their own futures.

...Ballots will prove far more powerful than bullets in the end, and the will of the peaceful majority of Iraqis will triumph over the terror tactics of a hateful few. To this mission, I and my colleagues from the Interim Government pledge ourselves, and we call upon the governments and citizens of our allies in the international community and our neighbors in the region to do their utmost to support Iraq at this critical juncture. A free and secure Iraq will be a victory for all peace-loving people, and we Iraqis face a historic opportunity that we shall not squander.
-- Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Allawi (
link)

Posted by John Weidner at December 23, 2004 1:33 PM
Weblog by John Weidner