Iraq will have national elections tomorrow and the Washington Post has a preview up this morning. What I found most interesting is their choice of man-on-the-street quotes. In a country as diverse as Iraq, you could find someone to say almost anything, but the Post chose these:
“If Ayad [Allawi] wins, he will become a dictator,” said Ahlam Aboud Karim, 33, as she shopped for vegetables in central Baghdad. “If we have a strong man, we don’t need a democracy. A strong leader is better. Democracy won’t work in Iraq.”
Mesen Fanar Dawood, a merchant at a Baghdad pet shop, said he will be at the polls Sunday. But he was all but certain that the vote would be rigged.
“Iraqi people need a strong man, they need a strong man like Saddam Hussein,” he said, voicing his dislike of the brand of democracy in today’s Iraq. “But this is all we have available. If you leave your ballot blank, it will be abused by another person.”
I have no idea how representative those sentiments are, but it’s significant that the Post didn’t offer any other quotes to balance them out.
