Newsweek or News weak?

I was sitting in a lobby, waiting for a meeting yesterday, and I started paging through Newsweek. It was from December I think, and there was an editorial about Iraq. The gist of the story was that we(America) suck, the Iraqis are worse off, and the whole election thing is a sham.

1. We do suck. As a country we could do a lot better. Fortunately for us, we suck a lot less than most everybody else. On a suck scale, we're probably a 3, while France is a good 8, and the former Soviet Union tying with Nazi Germany and the Vichy French for a 15. So yes, we are imperfect, but so is everyone else, so try and use a little perspective.

2. The Iraqis are worse off. That's not even really debatable. If the Sunni minority would just get off their ass, condemn the terrorists, and deal with the fact that they don't get to push everyone around, they could get on with being a successful nation. The problem is really just a matter of acting like adults. Quit whining about the fact that you don't get to pick what's for lunch. You picked grilled cheese, and you know your brother is lactose intolerant. So next time we'll pick lunch for you both.

3. Elections. I love that they predicted horrible turnout and unending violence. Condemning security measures. Hey, you remember when they held the elections and Dan Rather about cried because there was no increase in violence and bloodshed?

Here's the deal. The Newsweek article said something about how the Iraqis had it great under Saddam because with a one party system he ended up with a 107% turnout one year. HELLO! Anyone remember tin pot dictators rigging elections? And that was just in Washington State! Seriously though, the article never mentions that it might have been an untruthful poll number. I mean, god forbid that someone who gets off gassing people with chemicals even Hitler refused to use would stoop so low as to lie about voter turnout.

And then we are bombarded with how the Sunni's are left out, the Iranian Shiite party got the most votes, we're establishing a theocracy. Blah blah blah. Shut the hell up. There are four major power blocs in Iraq. Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, Secular Arabs, Kurds. And the system of government they are going with is a democracy like Great Britain. So if the Sunni's get 36% of the vote, the get 36% of the seats. So its not like there is only one seat in the House of Representatives, and because the big bad Republicans had more votes than all the commies, lefties, and complete fringe radicals together the get the seat. No, not the case at all. And furthermore, in a government like this one, there is constant dealing and alliances to get votes through. So what you will see is something like this. For issue 1 you might have the Kurds, Sunni's(there will be Sunnis), and secular Shiites forming a voting bloc that can pass through a law that restricts radical Shiite policies. This will probably happen because the Sunni's(Kurds are just ethnically Persian Sunni's) don't want to be forced to observe Shiite rules, and secular Shiites and just that, nominally Shiite(probably born in Shiite families), but used the freedom opportunities of free markets and personal freedom. Issue 2 could reshuffle the whole deck. Imagine the issue involves the return of American troops home and out of Iraqi soil. The Sunni's will obviously want us gone, so they can try and bully the country around again. And some of the Shiite extremists(The Supreme Party for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, insert Life Of Brian joke here) will be divided. Some voting for us out, because they welcome the involvement of Iran, and others wanting us to stay to augment their forces until they feel completely safe with all Iraqi Security forces. Throw in the Kurds, who while Sunni, are usually targeted more harshly by Sunni Arabs than by Shiite Arabs. They support and work well with American forces, and will probably(but who knows) stand by an American presence in Iraq. But the end result is that representative government does just that: represents the people in government.

So in closing, if you are one of those people who doesn't even bother to get all the info before making a broad, sweeping statement in a national magazine, I have this advice for you: Go Away.