how did we screw it up? The Iraqi's screwed it up. If one group refused to participate in their country's future... it's their fault, not ours. Welcome to democracy.

btw...where are you guys getting this information?

Sunni Turnout Is High In Vote on Iraqi Charter




http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1201/p06s02-woiq.html

Perhaps attitudes? There doesn't seem to be much order in the country, Safety for officials cannot be guaranteed and like you said early, the Iraqi soldiers have only just stopped running after hearing a gun being fired.

Thing is, they could tell us anything the like about the voter turnouts. As far as I know the only one with access to the voting results are the US and their allies. While they're probably not gonna rig the whole damn thing, they will have been messing with the results here and there. And can you blame anyone for thinking that, after the airtight reasoning behind the invasion of Iraq? Everyone seems to have forgotten by now that the entire reason for the campaign was a lie to begin with.

Of course, it's the way things go, but I'm just saying: I'm very sceptical about the truth behind those elections and everything. In the media over here, there was no sign of the whole optimistic atmosphere there seems to be in some American media.

Bottom line: there's no way things are gonna work out like that in Iraq. The sheer patronizing alone is pretty insulting. One of those sites you linked, "voting 101, Iraqi style"...sheesh. They might be morons, but that doesn't make it cool to patronize them like that.

I'll be ready when you come to laugh at me in ten years, hehehe.


Anyway, I'm not trying to antagonize anyone here. And if I am, sorry.

Also your private torture jets in Europe aren't making you popular considering we are meant to be civilised.

You don't understand. The US doesn't need good PR. Over 100 years when the Middle East is secular and democratic we'll all recognise how good the torture was for humanity.

hehe. Torture isn't up my street and its hypocritical to suggest that we can do good things using it.
One of the things we must remember tho is to not resemble the enemy too much, i.e. we shouldn't become as fundamentalist Christians as the fundamentalist Muslims. We've lost the war if we do that.