Iraq council should be supported [Archives:2003/666/Letters to the Editor]

Farouk Al Samawi
[email protected]
I just can not believe the opposition parties in Yemen actually, or even the Yemeni government, for that matter, does not recognize the current Iraqi governing council. How naive? This is just one more example of blindly opposing Western values even if they are good for us (as in democracy.) How can you, with a straight face, recognize dummy elections that are staged in Arabic countries by absolute dictators, where they always win by astonishing majorities, and call the Iraqi council a puppet regime? In other words, you can recognize a one-man, by the gun rule, but not a group of good Iraqi citizens. Furthermore, we all know that this is just a first step towards true democratic elections.
The governing council in Iraq has many challenges to come. They need the support of their” brothers” in Yemen and other Muslim and Arab countries. They should not even have to travel to Yemen to try to convince us of their legitimacy. Yes, the U.S. is still playing a role in Iraq. But they have to. Otherwise it will be a total anarchy. But just because the U.S. is in Iraq, that does not mean we can't support an Iraqi council.
Here is what bothers me; I am certain if Saddam was overthrown by another military (dictator), we would have recognized him (or her, though unlikely in the area) by now.
My last word is; Iraqis are our brothers and they need our support through these difficult times. Let us give them our support by recognizing their temporary government's they can move on to the next step. Refusing democracy just because it came from the west is like a sick person refusing to be treated by a doctor who is not Muslim. And we all know that is not true, because we always travel to the west to seek treatment.
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