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Christian Parenti in Afghanistan: Saturday's Elections Were A "Farce"
Tariq Ali v. Christopher Hitchens: A Debate on the U.S. War
on Iraq, the Bush-Kerry Race and the Neo-Conservative Movement
Christian Parenti in Afghanistan: Saturday's Elections
Were A "Farce"
We go to Afghanistan to speak with The Nation's correspondent
covering Saturday's election where all 15 of incumbent Hamid
Karzai's opponents announced they were boycotting the election
because of voting problems. [includes rush
transcript]
Ballots from Afghanistan's first direct presidential election
poured into collection centers across the country today.
Several opponents of President Hamid Karzai, including his
chief rival Yunis Qanui, have abandoned their boycott of the
poll over allegations of fraud, and irregularities.
On Saturday, 15 of Karzai's challengers announced a boycott,
saying a system to prevent multiple voting had failed. The
indelible ink used to mark voters” fingers after casting
their ballots could easily be wiped out in some cases, meaning
that illegal multiple voting was possible.
The Afghan-U.N. Joint Electoral Management Body gave candidates
until the end of the day Monday to lodge complaints formally,
and is setting up a panel to investigate.
The full official count of the vote is likely to take about
three weeks, but an exit poll conducted by the Washington-based
International Republican Institute, a GOP-associated think
tank, showed U.S.-backed President Karzai heading for a landslide
win. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has been an influential
behind-the-scenes dealmaker on Karzai”s behalf.
- Christian Parenti, correspondent for the Nation Magazine
and author of the forthcoming book The Freedom: Shadows
and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq. He joins us on the
phone from Mazar-i-Sharif.
Tariq Ali v. Christopher Hitchens: A Debate on the
U.S. War on Iraq, the Bush-Kerry Race and the Neo-Conservative
Movement
Nearly a year and a half after the U.S. invaded Iraq, we
rejoin Tariq Ali and Christopher Hitchens for part two of
a debate on whether the Bush administration should have attacked
Iraq. We last spoke to these two former political allies in
December, 2003. Today we return to the debate to examine the
U.S. presidential race, the predictions of Richard Perle,
the status of the Iraqi resistance and why Hitchens supports
Paul Wolfowitz. Ali is the author of Bush in Babylon: The
Recolonization of Iraq and Hitchens is the author of A Long
Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq. [includes rush
transcript]
It has been just under 19 months since the US invasion of
Iraq began. And while Iraqi officials and the Bush administration
speak of January elections, the situation on the ground remains
deadly. Just after midnight local time, US forces struck the
city of Falluja in multiple missile attacks. Al Jazeera reported
from the city that at least 6 Iraqis were killed including
at least 4 members of the same family. In an earlier attack,
a US bombing destroyed one of Falluja”s biggest restaurants,
leaving 2 guards dead. The US military said it was targeting
a gathering of supporters of Jordanian militant Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi. An Iraqi journalist in the city disputed the claim.
Earlier, US troops fired on a car on the main highway between
Falluja and Ramadi, killing five members of the same family
traveling in the vehicle. The dead included a woman and child.
Meanwhile, a blast occurred near the US consulate in the southern
city of Basra, wounding at least one Iraqi. The explosion
targeted a foreign company specializing in protecting oil
pipelines.
This weekend, The Los Angeles Times reported that the Bush
administration plans to delay major assaults on resistance-held
cities in Iraq until after US elections in November. The paper
cites concerns by the White House that such offensives could
effect the outcome of the elections. One senior administration
official said, “When this election's over, you'll see
us move very vigorously."
Last December, Democracy Now! hosted a debate on Iraq between
two veteran Iraq observers: Tariq Ali, author of Bush in Babylon:
The Recolonization of Iraq and Christopher Hitchens, jounalist
and author of A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of
Iraq. Today, we revisit that debate. We are joined in our
New York studio by Tariq Ali and in our Washington DC studio,
by Christopher Hitchens.
- Tariq Ali, author of several books including "Bush
in Babylon: The Recolonization of Iraq." He is also
the editor of New Left Review.
- Christopher Hitchens, columnist with Vanity Fair and
author of several books including "A Long Short War:
The Postponed Liberation of Iraq" and the new "Blood,
Class and Empire: The Enduring Anglo-American Relationship"
- Excerpt From Friday's Presidential Debate between President
Bush and Senator John Kerry discussing the Iraq invasion
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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