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Daily Drift: Venezuela, Robertson and Iraq in focus Judy Stillson | 8/25/05
Target Venezuela?
On the heels of Reverend Pat Robertson's absurd suggestion to assassinate Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, one has to wonder what Donald Rumsfeld was doing in Paraguay and Peru last week and whether the two events are not just related, but planned and organized by the Bush administration.
According to this article, the Secretary of Defense was in South America to shore up or strengthen support for a pro-American military effort in the region, ostensibly linked to the current political imbroglio in Bolivia, but more likely an effort to isolate the Chavez government in Caracas.
It's no secret (well, maybe to most Americans it is) that the United States is deeply interested in Venezuela's oil and has attempted to overthrow or subvert the Chavez government in the past. The idea that Rumsfeld would visit South America rather than Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice displays the way the Bush administration handles foreign policy with "lesser nations" - militarily instead of diplomatically.
Right-wing columnist Arnaud de Borchgrave, writing today in the Washington Times suggests - using the usually reliable ploy of quoting an "unnamed source" - that Venezuela and Cuba are promoting "Hezbollah and Hamas fund-raising and money-laundering" in various South American states. This "revelation" dove-ties neatly with Robertson's allegations that Chavez is using his country as a launching pad for both Communism and militant Islamist aims.
The rhetoric is ratcheting up rapidly in Washington. Robertson's on-air gaffe was likely neither accidental nor ill-advised in the mind set of the neocon administration.
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Iraq Constitution Delays Threaten Already Fragile Situation
By the time you read this, the third deadline for the Iraqi parliament to approve a constitution will have come and gone.
The first deadline, August 15, was extended by virtue of the same parliament voting itself a seven-day extension. Technically, this was illegal. According to the charter of the constitution-writing parliament, if the deadline was not met, the parliament was supposed to have been dissolved and a new round of elections for delegates begun.
That's what should have happened.
Instead, a seven-day extension to work out differences between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish factions expired on Monday and was again extended another three days, expiring today at midnight Baghdad time.
As of this writing (11:00 am Eastern Time), reports are flowing from major news sources that the meeting of the parliament will not be held today to approve the final document, while others, including government spokesman Laith Kubba, say there is no need for a final vote.
Huh?
Essentially, the Shi'ite and Kurdish factions can approve the constitution any time they like, as they hold a joint majority in the Parliament over the Sunnis, who have been wrangling for removal of several elements from the document, including federalism, women's rights and de-Ba'athification.
The Sunnis vow to oppose the constitution during the ratification process in October - in which the entire Iraqi population will vote final approval or disapproval - if the Shi'ite and Kurd junta passes the constitution over their objections. This seems to be the current state of affairs, which no doubt will be trumpeted as a victory for the American effort in Iraq by the administration and the complacent media.
In any event, Americans should be appalled by the haphazard and illegal way in which the Iraq constitution is progressing. A missed deadline on August 15, another on the 22nd and now a third today, August 25.
In baseball parlance, that would be three strikes, and the Iraqi parliament should be out. Of course, in Iraq, where there is no law, no logic and no peace, even the simplicity of game rules do not apply,
Judy Stillson is a staff writer for Downtown Magazine. © 2005 Downtown Magazine. All rights reserved.
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