I accidentally turned on ABC News last night expecting to find Desperate Housewives and unhappily was greeted by Elizabeth Vargas and that other new guy. She told me that people were “very optimistic” in Iraq and that turnout for the election had reached 70 percent. I can promise you that number is unsupportable. The truth is nobody had any idea what the turnout in Iraq was. All the early coverage can handle is whether there are long lines for voting or not. If there are, the vote was a success. All you have to do to get the US media to go along with your foreign election is make sure there aren’t enough voting places—something at which the Bush administration demonstrated its considerable skill in Ohio. Months or years from now, we’ll get the truth, but this falling for it every time—well, that’s as sure a thing a Roger Clemons striking out your grandmother, should he ever get the chance. Anyway, ABC News thinks this constitutes, “Breaking News”: “Bush Claims U.S. Forces Are On The "Road To Recovery" In Iraq." Personally, I’d like to see a bit of follow-up on this story, buried on p. A28 of the Post on Sunday and ignored entirely by the Times. (Don’t even ask about ABC et al.)
Iraqi Parties Complain of Vote Irregularities
As the United States portrayed Thursday's Iraqi elections as a resounding success, political parties here Saturday complained of violations ranging from dead men voting to murder in the streets.
The Iraqi electoral commission said it had received more than 200 complaints in advance of a Sunday deadline for filing grievances. A commission spokesman said many are "exaggerated," but political parties from all corners maintained that violence and fraud made the outcome suspect.
"We have documented violations, threats and breaches," Mehdi Hafedh, an official of the secular party of former prime minister Ayad Allawi, said at a news conference. At almost the same time, the coalition of Shiite religious parties that is vying to retain its majority in parliament warned that it "would not accept" results it deems fraudulent.
U.S. officials speaking from Washington declared the elections clean and fair…”
How many Iraqi dead? Don’t ask, says the Pentagon. 30,000 or so, says Bush. Not a bad guess, says my friend Sarah Sewall.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, “U.S. officials in Iraq knew that a contractor was paying local papers. Discretion was the key,” here.