After Nigeria's parliamentary election on March 12, a "seasoned" British diplomat in the country rated the poll on a scale for a friend in Lagos. He said that if 10 was perfectly transparent and fair and 1 was chaos, he'd give the voting 6/10 across much of the nation, but just 2/10 in the tormented southeastern oil states.
Since I'm not back in 'the factory' quite yet, I've not heard any such "verdict" on Saturday's presidential election. One can simply hope that this isn't the beginning of more trouble in a country where democracy remains a very big experiment.
I wonder what that diplomat would make of developments in Baghdad, where for 'Today' on the BBC, James Naughtie an hour or two ago interviewed Ahmed Chalabi, the controversial, returned exile groomed by the hawks in Washington.
How assidiously Chalabi denied having any political ambitions at all! The man has several times said he wants to see US troops stay on for a couple of years, though he changed his tune in an interview last week for Time. In blatant disagreement with many others in and outside the country, he foresaw only a very minimal role for the United Nations, which has "no credibility in Iraq". This he justified with an attack on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, claiming that:
"he smoked a cigar with Saddam Hussein -- he smoked six cigars with Saddam Hussein..."
Apart from the colourful cultural imagery of a phrase to be assimilated with the much-televised habit of hitting things with shoes, the alleged puffing that has earned Annan the "derision" of the Iraqis, according to Chalabi, further divested the smooth-talking, would-be Iraqi leader of any credibility of his own.
At 'The American Prospect', Robert Dreyfuss -- with whom I'd beg to differ about T.E. Lawrence, to the extent that the latter was outmanoeuvred by politicians and was scarcely a 'British imperial spy" -- has an interesting angle on "Chalabi's long and winding road from (and to?) Baghdad".
The Beeb has another profile, while at National Review, Max Singer last week thought poor Dr Chalabi is much slandered. Take your pick. I have, but will the Iraqis get a chance?
This morning's fuss, as
Jay Garner arrived in Iraq -- in another apparent Rumsfeld victory over Colin Powell and with a whole website devoted to "stopping" the general -- has put me in mind less of "British imperialism" than, once again, the good old-fashioned Roman way of running growing empires. With a difference:
"...it will take someone with serious business know-how to 'introduce a capitalist system where there's been central-control socialism since the 1960s,' says Ariel Cohen, a foreign-policy expert at the Heritage Foundation. Garner has that too," reckons Fortune magazine, rubbing revoltingly grubby paws with glee.
zzz
On the US home front, there's clamouring for ... democracy:
"Bush wants all people to be liberated and live in freedom. I suppose that includes the US. So take him at his word and demand freedom now. Democratic and fair elections now!"
proposes one entertaining entry at Heli's Heaven and Hell Radio blog. Thank heaven and Heli that it's not all devoted to Dubya.
11:31:10 AM link 
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