July 27, 2004
HISTORY ISN'T SUPPOSED TO END THIS EASILY:
Early Steps, Maybe, Toward a Democracy in Iraq: Roughly 1,000 delegates will hold a national conference in Baghdad in the next week to vote on a 100-seat transitional council. (IAN FISHER, 7/27/04, NY Times)
Whether democracy is really coming to Iraq, or whether it is even possible here, seemed of no immediate concern to Dr. Ahmad Abu-Raghif, a physician in Baghdad. He was game anyway.He showed up at a university hall here on Sunday with a good haircut, a blue suit and a big smile: the outfit of the office-seeker worldwide. He buttonholed 50 people, he said, at the grass-roots caucus, making the pitch for their votes.
"I explained myself to a lot of people," Dr. Abu-Raghif, 37, said before the voting began. "I have a Ph.D. I am a city council member. And I think I am a good candidate to win." Plus he had personal connections, which never hurt.
"Some of them are my patients," he confided.
His Western-style vote-corralling is part of what may become the birth of democracy in Iraq, something that never really existed here. As with much in Iraq since the American invasion, the experiment is at once inspiring and troubled, full of potential but not at all assured of success.
Caucuses like the one Dr. Abu-Raghif attended have been convening around Iraq to select roughly 1,000 delegates, who will hold a national conference in Baghdad in the next week.
The concrete goal of the conference is to vote - openly and freely - on a 100-seat transitional council that will oversee the government of Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister, until national elections are held in January. But the conference is also meant to function as an opportunity for a national dialogue, in which for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqis from all religions, regions and political and ethnic groups begin to discuss the way forward.
Why won't these dang Muslims read the memo about how they aren't interested in democracy?
MORE:
Indonesia: Democracy, Islam do mix (John Hughes, 7/28/04, CS Monitor)
Cynics in the West argue that Islam and democracy don't mix.Posted by Orrin Judd at July 27, 2004 4:18 PMDemocracy can't work in a Muslim country like Afghanistan, they say, because of the dictatorial grip of the warlords. It won't work in Iraq because the country is in chaos. It won't work in Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, or the rest of the Arab world because of autocratic rulers and Muslim extremists.
Such critics in the US conveniently dismiss the presence of some 4 million to 7 million Muslims in their land who remain true to their religion but thrive under democracy and revere it. But even in predominantly Muslim nations there are examples of burgeoning democracy.
One such nation - the largest Muslim country in the world - is Indonesia. Its 216 million people have survived colonialism under the Dutch, a slide toward communism under Sukarno, an abortive coup attempt that led to a nationwide bloodletting, years of corrupt dictatorship under Suharto, violent separatist upheavals and religious tensions, and a flurry of Al Qaeda-style terrorism.
By all measures, Indonesia should be an international basket case, difficult terrain for democracy. Yet with all its past turmoil, it is moving purposely through a complicated election process in which the once tender shoots of democracy are blooming healthily.
Good question, OJ. Don't they know they're too stupid to pull this thing off? Haven't they been watching the Democratic convention?
Posted by: Matt Murphy at July 27, 2004 6:55 PMI dunno. According to what I heard, the Shia, those famous democrats, have refused to have any non-Shia delegates.
They do seem unclear on the concept.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 27, 2004 8:11 PMWho were the black delegates to our constitutional convention?
Posted by: oj at July 27, 2004 8:25 PMCategory error, OJ. Last I checked, race and religion are just that little bit different.
More correctly, the hypothetical question would be: who were the [fill in Christian sect here] delegates ...
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at July 27, 2004 9:23 PMJeff:
I tried to go easy, since basing participation on what folks believe is obviously less objectionable than basing it on what they are. But, you're right, there were no non-Christians. No women. No blacks. No one who didn't own property. But it was no less a great democratic moment for all that.
Posted by: oj at July 28, 2004 12:14 AMTrue, but they were testing the waters.
We, though not the Muslims, have learned a lot about self-government over the past 225 years.
It wasn't until 100 years ago that we learned to drink clean water.
Arabs haven't caught up on that one yet, either.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 28, 2004 2:45 PMSo are you saying they're incapable of plumbing too? Or, as with their political development, just a few years behind.
Posted by: oj at July 28, 2004 3:01 PMIndifferent.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 28, 2004 10:55 PMOops. Meeting's postponed.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 29, 2004 3:12 PMGreetings in Jesus Name.
I am an Alumni and a preacher and owner of Kingsway International Christian Church(KICC)Ministry in London with name Rev. Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, and i will like to get advice from you. I
believe the advice i need will be profitable to you.
A few year's ago i was in Liberia where i had established a little congregation where i preached regularly, but the civil war escalated and the church was converted to a hospital of sought.
On one faithfull day three Gambian Soldiers came to me and left one trunk box containing money with me and swore to come back for it.
When the war in Liberia intensified i deposited this box in a security vault in South-Africa. I was escorted to South-Africa, by the ECOMOG soldiers who felt the content of the trunk were
documents and hospital materials and never cared to check the trunk. I was air lifted to England with other refugees then, i stayed in England and when i was getting frustrated i returned to
Africa only to find out that two of the three Soldiers died in Battle while the last was declared MIA(Missing In Action).
Now i have the fund, which the soldiers said was over Twenty Five Million US Dollars (US$25 Million), but it lies in a security vault in a Security Company in South-Africa.I was contacted in a letter dated 12th of May,2004 by the security company asking
me to indicate if i was in receipt of the letter as a sign that i am living and still subscribed for their service.
I am interested in using a small fraction of this money, much less than one percent for a re-organization of the work of God, but i do not need the rest and do not want to have any direct
dealing with it, but i need someone who will be able to use the fund better maybe for charity or something universally profitable, i have thought of doing it myself but, my ministry is the apocalypse and i believe and preach the soon coming of the Lord w
hich make me not indulgent in reliance on money or wealth in anyform.
Also do not have the money that has accrued on the service and safe deposit of the company that holds the fund. I will be glad if you have any interest in the direction of maybe managing or
transmitting the fund as you prefer in your capacity and understanding strictly for the work of God.
Get back to me with your decision and idea through this my private email: revpastor.matthew@caramail.com , (OR) revpastor.matthew@ezcybersearch.com
The Almighty God will forever bless you for your help towards his church and his children.
Be blessed in the name of the Lord.
REV.PASTOR MATTHEW ASHIMOLOWO.
Greetings in Jesus Name.
I am an Alumni and a preacher and owner of Kingsway International Christian Church(KICC)Ministry in London with name Rev. Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, and i will like to get advice from you. I
believe the advice i need will be profitable to you.
A few year's ago i was in Liberia where i had established a little congregation where i preached regularly, but the civil war escalated and the church was converted to a hospital of sought.
On one faithfull day three Gambian Soldiers came to me and left one trunk box containing money with me and swore to come back for it.
When the war in Liberia intensified i deposited this box in a security vault in South-Africa. I was escorted to South-Africa, by the ECOMOG soldiers who felt the content of the trunk were
documents and hospital materials and never cared to check the trunk. I was air lifted to England with other refugees then, i stayed in England and when i was getting frustrated i returned to
Africa only to find out that two of the three Soldiers died in Battle while the last was declared MIA(Missing In Action).
Now i have the fund, which the soldiers said was over Twenty Five Million US Dollars (US$25 Million), but it lies in a security vault in a Security Company in South-Africa.I was contacted in a letter dated 12th of May,2004 by the security company asking
me to indicate if i was in receipt of the letter as a sign that i am living and still subscribed for their service.
I am interested in using a small fraction of this money, much less than one percent for a re-organization of the work of God, but i do not need the rest and do not want to have any direct
dealing with it, but i need someone who will be able to use the fund better maybe for charity or something universally profitable, i have thought of doing it myself but, my ministry is the apocalypse and i believe and preach the soon coming of the Lord w
hich make me not indulgent in reliance on money or wealth in anyform.
Also do not have the money that has accrued on the service and safe deposit of the company that holds the fund. I will be glad if you have any interest in the direction of maybe managing or
transmitting the fund as you prefer in your capacity and understanding strictly for the work of God.
Get back to me with your decision and idea through this my private email: revpastor.matthew@caramail.com , (OR) revpastor.matthew@ezcybersearch.com
The Almighty God will forever bless you for your help towards his church and his children.
Be blessed in the name of the Lord.
REV.PASTOR MATTHEW ASHIMOLOWO.
Posted by: Rev. Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo at August 5, 2004 3:59 PMi am a studun of oau ile ife where you came recently in nigeria i just want to appreciate your effort for coming right away from london to nigeria. ipray God will continue to empower you in jesus namw amen
Posted by: sola adeosun at October 16, 2004 12:37 AMI WANTED TO TRAVEL TO REMOTEST PLACES IN MY COUNTRY PREACHING THE WORD OF GOD AND EVEN BULDING SHELTERS FOR PEOPLE TO MEET AND LISTEN TO THE WORD OF GOD.
Posted by: nassonstorey at October 25, 2004 3:53 AMI WANTED TO TRAVEL TO REMOTEST PLACES IN MY COUNTRY PREACHING THE WORD OF GOD AND EVEN BULDING SHELTERS FOR PEOPLE TO MEET AND LISTEN TO THE WORD OF GOD.
Posted by: nassonstorey at October 25, 2004 3:57 AM