Syria and its friends buckle under pressure

Under growing pressure over its occupation of Lebanon and its alleged involvement in a suicide-bombing in Israel, Syria has handed over a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, suspected of fomenting Iraq’s insurgency from Syria. Lebanon's Syrian-backed government has resigned on a day of big protests in Beirut

Reclaiming Asia from the West by Wang Hui

ASIA, like Europe, wants to create regional institutions strong enough to counterbalance the power of the United States. Two apparently different ideas -- liberal globalisation and the new empire -- have knit together military unions, collaborative economic associations and international political institutions to set up a global order encompassing politics, the economy, culture and the military. This order may be called neoliberal imperialism.

Should the U.N. Be Lord of the Oceans? by Patrick J. Buchanan

Twenty years ago, Reagan saw this Law Of the Sea Treaty for what it was: a joint scheme of the Soviet Bloc, the Third World and the United Nations to seize sovereignty over the oceans, mandate transfers of American technology and get kickbacks from profits U.S. companies might earn from mining and drilling. Reagan ordered it deep-sixed.

An American Jew Laments Decline in Jewish Influence by Alexander Cockburn

Across the world the Jewish lobby in America is accorded extraordinary power, almost to the mythic levels of guileful effectiveness once attributed to the British Secret Service. And in truth, MI6, as the Secret Service was also known, never approached the Jewish lobby in overall clout. But these days, if you read analyses by American Jews of where their power is headed, the tone is often dour and the forecast grim. They say, in the words of the American anti-Arab fanatic Daniel Pipes, "the golden age of the Jews" in America has passed its zenith.

A Pattern of Deception by Justin Raimondo

Let's look at two recent instances of political violence directed against a popular figure who has come to symbolize the democratic hopes of his people: the similarities between the death of Rafik Hariri and the attempted assassination and disfigurement of Viktor Yushchenko are remarkable. In both cases, we have a plethora of non-evidence pointing to the preferred culprits: in the first case, the Syrian government (and its Lebanese allies), and in the second, Russia (and its Ukrainian allies).

Likud'' Republican Party Connection by Bob Feldman

The website of the Republican Jewish Coalition describes Republican Jewish Coalition board member and American Friends of Likud Chairman of the Board Rosen as "one of the key power brokers in the Israel business and political communities." Republican Jewish Coalition Board Member Rosen is also a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations pro-Israel pressure group.

Democracies & Double Standards by Patrick J. Buchanan

Why are McCain and Lieberman bullyragging Russia but not China? After all, Putin was elected, but Hu Jintao was not. Russia has an elected legislature with opposition parties. China has never held a free election. The Russian people have freedom of religion. China persecutes Christians. Russia threatens no U.S. ally. China threatens Taiwan. In a recent issue of Parade, a list was drawn up of the world's 10 worst dictators based on their human-rights violations. Hu Jintao was fourth from the top. Putin was not even mentioned.

They've Only Just Begun . . . by Justin Raimondo

We are in for a long buildup to direct intervention in Lebanon, and Syria, as the Lebanese elections loom: any defeat for the opposition will immediately provoke charges of fraud, as in the Ukraine, and this time the military option is going to be a real possibility. Every official and quasi-official government agency and paid administration propagandist will be dishing out stories of Syria's crimes, both real and imagined, and the Lebanese elections will be examined under a microscope for any hint of deviation from the predetermined "fair" outcome. Millions will be pumped into funding "pro-democracy" groups, supposedly unbiased polls will project the "winners" before a single vote is cast, and the war propaganda machine will rev up to full volume, as both liberals of the Carlson type and neocons bray in unison for war and "democracy."

Did Israel Killed al-Hariri to Set the Stage for a Confrontation with Hezbollah? by Kurt Nimmo

Last week, newspapers “from around the world … raised accusation fingers to Israel regarding the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri,” reports Arabic News. In Turkey, Prague, Paris, and elsewhere newspaper columnists and reporters put two and two together and came up with Israel. “Israel involvement in the crime is a fait accompli, it doesn’t need a fortune-teller to inform reality,” writes Yeni Asya. “In Paris, L’Humanite Newspaper, for its part, said that Israel could be behind murdering Hariri, stressing that Israel has an interest in the crime, namely to be far away from the resumption of peace process which Syria repeatedly called for.”

Permanent U.S. Bases Sought in Afghanistan

A senior American lawmaker called Tuesday for permanent U.S. bases in Afghanistan to safeguard American security interests in a region that includes Iran as well as nuclear-armed Pakistan and China.

Sen. John McCain, part of a five-strong U.S. Senate delegation which held talks with President Hamid Karzai, said he was committed to a "strategic partnership that we believe must endure for many, many years.

Saber Rattling Against Syria by Ivan Eland

The Bush administration should follow its own lead and imitate its successful policy with Libya. The administration provided a powerful incentive for Muammar Qaddafi, Libya’s despotic strongman who also has been suspected of trying to kill a foreign leader, to give up his nuclear weapons program. It offered Qaddafi an end to international economic isolation in exchange for better behavior.

In contrast, Syria’s and Iran’s efforts at some cooperation with U.S. policies have been shot down in their infancy. In the case of Iran, the regime quit cooperating with the United States when it realized that the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan was more or less permanent. Furthermore, President Bush has actually declared that he would not ease relations even if the Iranians gave up their nuclear program. Why should those regimes improve their behavior if they feel that they can do nothing right and the goal posts keep moving back when they take a step, however tentative, in a positive direction? As unbelievable as it may seem, considering the Iraqi debacle, the military threats by the Bush administration against Iran and Syria closely resemble the pre-invasion threats the administration made against Iraq.

Likud rebels scheme to torpedo pullout by GIL HOFFMAN

The first centered on the 2005 state budget plan, which has only precarious support in the Knesset. The plan entailed convincing as many parties as possible to vote against the budget so that it wouldn't pass, leading to the eventual collapse of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government.

The second scheme involved using the Likud Central Committee meeting, slated for March 2, to renew momentum on the referendum issue.

Scott Ritter Says US Attack On Iran Set For June by Mark Jensen

On Friday evening in Olympia, former UNSCOM weapons inspector Scott Ritter appeared with journalist Dahr Jamail. -- Ritter made two shocking claims: George W. Bush has "signed off" on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005, and the U.S. manipulated the results of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq....

US vs. EU by Leon Hadar

The strategic reality is that most of the Europeans, not unlike the Chinese and the Russians, don't want the US to succeed in Iraq. In fact, what the Europeans (and the Russians and Chinese) want 'is for the US to continue to have a tough time in Iraq, thereby discrediting Bush's doctrine of making preventive wars on behalf of disarmament and democracy,' explains Nicholas Berry, director of the Washington-based Foreign Policy Forum.

'America would back Israel attack on Iran' by Francis Harris

President George W Bush added a new twist to the international tension over Iran's nuclear programme last night by pledging to support Israel if it tries to destroy the Islamic regime's capacity to make an atomic bomb.

Levantine Complications by Alan Bock

The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri gave the United States an opportunity to demonstrate maturity and respect for the ability of people in the Middle East to handle their own affairs even (or especially) when those affairs have a tragic tinge. Naturally, the U.S. blew it and came off as something of a bull in a china shop.

From Baghdad to Beirut by Pepe Escobar

Blame it on Syria. Blame it on al-Qaeda. Better yet, blame it both on Syria and al-Qaeda. Without a shred of evidence - or perhaps profiting from "intelligence" amassed by the Pentagon, the Israeli Mossad, or both - the Bush administration immediately blamed Syria for the bombing that killed "Mr Beirut", former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. And Washington recalled its ambassador to Damascus, Margaret Scobey.

Israel is Prime Suspect in Lebanon Assassination by Mehdi Shakiba'i

Text of commentary by Mehdi Shakiba'i:

"Israel the prime suspect in Hariri's assassination",

published by the Iranian newspaper E'temad web site (original Persian, translation BBC)

Why Kim Jong-il hates George W Bush by Sung-Yoon Lee

How US President George W Bush feels about Kim Jong-il we already know, from statements like "I loathe Kim Jong-il" and "axis of evil" and name-calling like "pygmy". What much of the world might not so readily know is that the loathsome, evil, less-than-statuesque North Korean leader hates the swaggering Texan with equal, or even greater, passion.

US Foreign Policy Dangerously Slanted Toward Israel by BILL CHRISTISON

Let's take another look now at how the special status of Israel in U.S. politics relates to the U.S. drive for global domination. After decades of growing ties between the two countries, Israel is now so closely linked to the United States in concrete ways that it is actually a part of the U.S. military-industrial complex. Israel sells military equipment, with our knowledge, to countries to which the U.S. is restricted by law from selling -- for instance, to China. So many arms and types of arms are produced in the U.S. for Israel that it has become quite easy for Israel's lobbyists in Washington to go to individual congressmen and point out to them how many jobs in a given district depend on this arms industry and on not withholding arms from Israel. In this way, Israel becomes a direct factor in pressing the U.S. to continue its drive for empire and global domination, in expanding the U.S. military-industrial complex, and in keeping congressmen and other politicians in office -- politicians who serve first and foremost the ruling elite of the country.

Mossad behind Hariri assassination by Hassan Hanizadeh

Israel and the U.S. seek to sever the spiritual and physical contacts between Syria and Lebanon in order to isolate Syria in the Middle East and check its political sway in the region.

The Mossad is trying to help the Zionist army claw its way back into Lebanon, since history has shown that the stability of Lebanon is not to the advantage of Israel.

The ramifications of Hariri's assassination by Rami G. Khouri

The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a massive bombing in central Beirut on Monday sends a loud and deadly message - but the nature, origin, destination and intent of the message all remain painfully unclear to many observers. What is crystal clear, though, is that this crime will send out important political ripples in at least three dimensions.

The killing of 'Mr Lebanon': Rafik Hariri assassinated in Beirut bomb blast by Robert Fisk

I saw the blast wave coming down the Corniche. My home is only a few hundred metres from the detonation and my first instinct was to look up, to search for the high-altitude Israeli planes that regularly break the sound barrier over Beirut. There were customers coming bloodied from their broken-windowed restaurants and the great cancerous stain of smoke rising from the road outside the St George Hotel.

Annan raises calls for overhaul of world security system and a "New World Order"

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed Sunday for Europe and the United States to back a major overhaul of global security measures used to combat terrorism, to keep weapons of mass destruction from spreading and quell regional conflicts.

US fights back against 'rule by clerics' by Syed Saleem Shahzad

Already, members of the Da'wa Party, many of whom were taught in Iran, have taken over mosques in Basra, and members of Hezbollah have heavily infiltrated the Shi'ite population, in addition to Iranian intelligence and members of the Pasdaran-i-Inqalab (Iran's Revolutionary Guards) to pave the way for vilayet-e-faqih.

Is the New World Order 'Jewish'? by Henry Makow PhD

Let's begin by defining the "New World Order."

The mainspring of the New World Order is the desire on the part of the world's central bankers to translate their vast economic power into permanent global institutions of political and social control.

Their power is based on their monopoly over credit. They use the government's credit to print money, and require the taxpayer to fork over billions in interest to them.

US Association Helps Create New World Order by John Stanton

The individuals and organizations in the ATC, AGBC, ACPC, UKBA, and similarly populated groups, are in control of the design and action plans to secure America’s national interests in the New EuroAsia. It’s the same story for other regions of the world -- Africa, Indonesia, etc. -- and even here on America’s domestic front. Does a Congressman or woman have a bright idea? Does the President have a special agenda? If they do, you can be sure it came from an Association.

Coming to terms with Sistani by Sami Moubayed

The Americans must take Sistani very seriously. His cooperation in Iraq is what prevents them from striking at the Shi'ite regime in Iran, despite its nuclear program, or the Shi'ite militia of Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite its continued war with Israel. Sistani would hear nothing of both scenarios. If the Americans foolishly decide to side step him, he could unleash hell in the Fertile Crescent. He is the best ayatollah in Iraq and they have to accept that his vision of democracy for post-Saddam Iraq is very different from what they had in mind.

A Peek Behind Bush II’s 'War on Tyranny' by F. William Engdahl

Part I: Control all ’tyrannical’ world oil chokepoints

In recent public speeches, George W. Bush and others in the Administration, including Condi Rice, have begun to make a significant shift in the rhetoric of war. A new ‘War on Tyranny’ is being groomed to replace the outmoded War on Terror. Far from being a semantic nuance, the shift is highly revealing of the next phase of Washington’s global agenda.

The Iraq Voter Has Opted for a Shiite-Kurdish Coalition in Baghdad

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s United Iraqi (Shiite) Alliance of 16 parties pulled ahead of the pack in Iraq’s first democratic election, earning 48% and a block of 132 seats in the new national assembly – but not an absolute majority. In an earlier report published on February 4, DEBKAfile predicted that the UIA would not win a majority of the new house despite its claim of 60 of the electorate. Iraq’s 8.55 million voters (58% turnout) awarded 25.4% to the United Kurdish List, placing it in second place, followed by interim PM Allawi’s list with a disappointing 14%.

We Have Nothing to Fear But Bush Himself by Paul Craig Roberts

It does not serve America for Bush to impose Ariel Sharon’s agenda on the Middle East. Bush’s insane policy is producing rising anger that endangers Israel and America’s puppet governments in Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan along with the Saudi regime. Ironically, this is recognized by Egypt’s Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah, who was unable to refrain from pointing out that Bush has managed to create a Shi’ite crescent from Iran to Lebanon.

North Korea's long, subtle game by Aidan Foster-Carter

Thursday's shock headlines will fade as swiftly as, less than a month ago, the brief hurrahs for an outbreak of peace and love in Pyongyang. Then, just after two US congressional delegations had visited, KCNA said North Korea was ready to treat the US as a friend. We really should know by now to avoid knee-jerk reactions: be it to crack open the bubbly, or run for cover. Kim Jong-il is playing a long, subtle game. Whether it's a wise one, I doubt. But the end of the world it ain't. Not for today, at least.

Caught in the Muddle - Round Two of Bush vs. North Korea by John Feffer

The Bush administration should be mindful of these sentiments as it flirts with toppling the North Korean government and unleashing Iraq-like chaos in East Asia. “Assisting democracy” in North Korea, whatever that could possibly mean, may not be the highest priority for North Koreans, if 33% of those who have tasted democracy in South Korea are willing to exchange it for a return home. The short-term alternative strategy of negotiating with North Korea and trading economic carrots for nuclear sticks may not fulfill everyone’s best-case scenario for human rights, but it would go a long way toward eliminating a security threat and improving prospects for economic growth in East Asia.

Iran's Nuclear Ambitions - Western Buffer, Eastern Bulwark by Andy Mason

The powerful European Union trio of Britain, France and Germany has attempted to thwart Iran’s nuclear progress diplomatically. The United States and Israel have threatened pre-emptive strikes against its nuclear sites. Yet still Iran flaunts any attempt to nullify its nuclear program. Is this because of a deep-seated disregard for the West or is it due to the ongoing technological and diplomatic support Tehran is receiving from Moscow and Beijing?

Coup d'tat in Disguise - Washington's New World Order "Democratization" Template by Jonathan Mowat

The U.S. government and allied forces' year-end installation of Victor Yushchenko as President of Ukraine have completed the field-testing of the "Post Modern Coup". Employing and fine-tuning the same sophisticated techniques used in Serbia in 2000 and Georgia in 2003 (and unsuccessfully in Belarus in 2001), it is widely expected that the United States will attempt to apply the same methods throughout the former Soviet Union.

Coming to terms with Sistani by Sami Moubayed

The Americans must take Sistani very seriously. His cooperation in Iraq is what prevents them from striking at the Shi'ite regime in Iran, despite its nuclear program, or the Shi'ite militia of Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite its continued war with Israel. Sistani would hear nothing of both scenarios. If the Americans foolishly decide to side step him, he could unleash hell in the Fertile Crescent. He is the best ayatollah in Iraq and they have to accept that his vision of democracy for post-Saddam Iraq is very different from what they had in mind.

Winners and Losers in Iraq by Jonathan Schell and Tom Engelhardt

It's significant – and discouraging – that Sistani's first act after the election was to signal through aides that all Iraqi law should be founded in Islamic law. For all his tactical sagacity, he may turn out to belong to the long list of leaders able to win power but unable to found a just new order.

Volcker's awkward questions - Report on the UN oil-for-food scandal

The Volcker committee investigating the scandal surrounding the UN’s oil-for-food programme has issued a critical report. The programme’s director, Benon Sevan, comes in for especially tough judgment. But the questions left unanswered have made the UN’s harshest critics only hungry for more.

Anti-Powerfulism by Uriah Kriegel

That movement formed originally around anti-globalization activism and was consolidated through the opposition to the Iraq war. Its common thread is a certain kind of anti-Americanism and perhaps more generally a sort of "anti-powerfulism," which can be defined as the instinctual opposition to all who are powerful: the United States in the first instance, but the World Bank, WTO, etc. as well.

China-UK: "Global Partners” by William Norman Grigg

This enthusiasm is puzzling in light of the fact that the Labour Party is Marxist, and Blair is a staunch supporter of the European Union. And in keeping with its Marxist pedigree, the Blair government has made overtures to Communist China.

US takes a new tack by M K Bhadrakumar

The past weekend has few parallels for its extraordinary spectacle of public diplomacy. In a series of calibrated statements, numbering over a dozen within the space of 72 hours or so, senior officials in key positions in the US administration toned down their rhetoric against Iran.

The new US century is over by Michael Lind

Ironically, the US, having won the cold war, is adopting the strategy that led the Soviet Union to lose it: hoping that raw military power will be sufficient to intimidate other great powers alienated by its belligerence. To compound the irony, these other great powers are drafting the blueprints for new international institutions and alliances. That is what the US did during and after the second world war.

Is Democracy on the March, or Revolution? by Patrick J. Buchanan

In 1917, Wilson and Lenin both looked forward to the coming end of monarchy in Europe. Wilson thought democracy would rise from the ruins of the royal houses. Lenin believed it would be communism.

Today, both Bush and bin Laden believe in revolutionary change in the Islamic world. Bush believes democracy will arise as the despots depart. Bin Laden believes Islamism inherits the estate.

Why Zionism today is the real enemy of the Jews by Avi Shlaim

Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people and the state of Israel is its political expression. Israel used to be a symbol of freedom and a source of pride for the Jews of the Diaspora. Israel's mistreatment of the Palestinians, however, has turned it into a liability and a moral burden for the liberal segment of the Jewish community. Some Jews, especially on the left, would go even further by linking Israel's behavior to the upsurge of the new anti-Semitism throughout the world.

Israel to 'pray for failure'

Israeli rabbis were planning on Sunday to hold special sessions in 100 synagogues to pray for the failure of this week's summit between prime minister Ariel Sharon and new Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

The ball is in Europe's court - Palestinian loss of land 1948 - 2000 by Oren Medicks

A sober look at this reality must lead us to the conclusion that currently, Israel does not have the will, nor the political resolve, to end the occupation and allow the establishment of a sovereign, free and viable Palestinian state.
It is therefore clear that effective international pressure on Israel is needed in order to protect the Palestinians against the American-Israeli intention of confining them into a set of ghettoes behind the Separation Wall.

Iraq officials admit irregularities in poll

Tens of thousands of Iraqis - mainly Sunni Arabs - may have been denied their right to vote on Sunday because of insufficient ballots and polling centres, Iraqi officials have said.

Mishaan Jiburi, a candidate and national assembly member, accused the commission of deliberately supplying insufficient materials in some Sunni areas, believing few would vote.

The emperor's new clothes by Pepe Escobar

PART 1: The Great Wall of Shopping
PART 2: Selling China to the World
PART 3: The hottest label: China chic
PART 4: Tiananmen peasant time bomb
PART 5: Guangdong, unstoppable world's factory
PART 6: Never mind the party, let's party!

Bush: More arrogance, more belligerence, more chauvinism

Why is it that the United States of America has a bigoted sense of its own importance and just exactly who does George Bush think he is? He is the President of the USA, period and has no jurisdiction whatsoever outside the frontiers of his country. The speech began with references to the Ukraine and Iraq and then a sickeningly arrogant claim that "I will set forth policies to advance that ideal (freedom) at home and around the world". Thanks, but we don't want your freedom, or your democracy, or your cluster bombs dropped on weddings, or the slaughter of six-year-old kids or the wholesale massacre of tens of thousands of civilians as you look for your elusive WMD.

The failed-state cancer by Henry C K Liu Part 1

It has been said that when economics turns serious, it becomes political. The Washington Consensus, a term coined in 1990 by John Williamson of the Institute for International Economics to summarize the synchronized ideology of Washington-based establishment economists, reverberated around the world for a quarter of a century as the true gospel of reform indispensable for achieving growth in a globalized market economy.

Speaking out about Israel to save the Jewish soul by Cecilie Surasky

Our continued silence perpetuates the fiction that all Jews are of one mind when it comes to Israel — that we think it can do no wrong; that we believe the Israeli government is innocent of war crimes; that we believe US military support for Israel's illegal occupation is a sign of our special relationship, and not a cynical use of Jewish suffering to provide moral cover for strategic interests in an oil-rich region.

The American-Sunni War by Patrick J. Buchanan

With the elections now completed, President Bush should lay down, for the Iraqis and the world, conditions for the withdrawal of U.S. forces and their replacement with Iraqi forces. Specifically, President Bush should:

* Inform the new Iraqi assembly the United States has no plans for any permanent U.S. military presence on Iraqi soil.
* Pledge continued U.S. aid in battling the resistance and rebuilding the country, as long as an elected government endures.

* Accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi army forces, and the transfer to them of the duty to defend their own government.

* Announce an initial drawdown of U.S. forces, so Iraqis get the message that the defense of democracy in their own country is first and foremost their own duty, not ours. While we will aid them in their battle, its ultimate outcome will depend upon them.

Iraq After the Election by Noam Chomsky

You can even write the commentary now: We just have to do it because we have to accomplish our mission of bringing democracy to Iraq. If they have an elected government that doesn't understand that, well, what can we do with these dumb Arabs, you know? Actually that's very common because look, after all, the U.S. has overthrown democracy after democracy, because the people don't understand. They follow the wrong course. So therefore, following the mission of establishing democracy, we've got to overthrow their governments.

The Problem with Western Democracy in the Middle East by Ramzy Baroud

An online poll was recently carried out by the Arabic website of Aljazeera satellite television, where well over 80 percent of voters said that they distrust "Western democracy". The poll results simply restated the obvious. The query, of course, hardly meant to question "Western democracy" in its own right, but rather its imposition on the Arab world.

Train wreck of an election by James Carroll

Full blown civil war, if it comes to that, will serve Bush's purpose, too. All the better if Syria and Iran leap into the fray. In such extremity, America's occupation of Iraq will be declared legitimate. America's city-smashing tactics, already displayed in Fallujah, will seem necessary. Further "regime change" will follow. America's ad hoc Middle East bases, meanwhile, will have become permanent. Iraq will have become America's client state in the world's great oil preserve. Bush's disastrous and immoral war policy will have "succeeded," even though no war will have been won. The region's war will be eternal, forever justifying America's presence. Bush's callow hubris will be celebrated as genius. Congress will give the military machine everything it needs to roll on to more "elections." These outcomes, of course, presume the ongoing deaths of tens of thousands more men, women, and children. And American soldiers.

Gorbachev Calls Iraqi Elections “Fake”

In an interview with the Interfax news agency, he said the elections are “very far from what true elections are. And even though I am a supporter of elections and of the transfer of power to the people of Iraq, these elections were fake.”

Israel's bloodless coup d'etat will soon provoke bloodshed y Ya'akov-Perez Golbert

"New" evidence against Ariel Sharon and both of his sons will certainly be "discovered" by the prosecution and they will all sit in prison after spending their entire fortune on legal defense.

Al Jazeera 'for sale' is a sad sign for all by Linda S. Heard

Ahmad Shaikh, Al Jazeera's news editor, said: "We understand that Americans are not happy with our editorial policies, but if anyone wants us to become their mouthpiece, we will not do that. We are independent and impartial, and we have never come under any pressure from the Qatari government to change our editorial approach."

'Iraq's electoral fiasco' by Mike Whitney

The only way the Iraqi elections would have been interesting is if they'd stuck Saddam's name on the ballot. Then we could've seen whether the Iraqi people are sick enough of Bush's farce to want a return to the old order. Instead, we're left ferreting through reams of trivia to sort out what the voting really meant.