Gorbechev: "Iraq election was fake"

[kuozzman]

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/01/31/gorbacheviraq.shtml

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev called the Iraqi parliamentary elections a profanation.

In an interview with the Interfax news agency, he said the elections are “very far from what true elections are. And even though I am a supporter of elections and of the transfer of power to the people of Iraq, these elections were fake.”

“I don’t think these elections will be of any use. They may even have a negative impact on the country. Democracy cannot be imposed or strengthened with guns and tanks,” the agency quoted Gorbachev as saying.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it respected the results of Iraq’s elections. However, the statement said that it was important for the Iraqi people to acknowledge and accept the poll’s results. Russian President Vladimir Putin also welcomed the parliamentary elections in Iraq, calling it a “step in the right direction” and a “positive event”.

[kuozzman]

1. Sorry, just noteced this is a dupe. Doh!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1200138&mesg_id=1200138

[aikido15]

10. Ok, I haven't seen it

He also corrected all the repukes when they credited Reagan for bringing down the Berlin Wall..."He didn't have anything to do with it" I was highly entertained by that...fucking Reagan..*spit*

[El Supremo]

2. He should know! n/t

[theresistance]

3. Go Gorby!

[RockStar]

4. Duh, The democrats of the USA could have told you it was fake

[aikido15]

11. The rest of the world could have also...

:eyes:

[alexisfree]

5. no shit!!!!

you imbecile.....

[flordehinojos]

6. GORBY knows jsut what he is talking about when he says,

"Democracy cannot be imposed or strengthened with guns and tanks,”

In russia, the tanks were prepared to keep Yeltsin in place. It was the PEOPLE who kept the tanks from ousting Yeltsin as they took to the streets and became a firewall between Yeltsin and the tanks. The people demanded democracy and they were more powerful than the tanks... Gorby was enough of a decent man to let the people keep Yeltsin and have democracy.

Bush is afraid of PEOPLE POWER so he corrals people into FREE SPEECH ZONES ripe with rifles pointed against them here in the USA -- and tanks throwing bullets and bombs launched at them in places like Iraq and whatever else other land this man who should not be holding power but is .... wishes to launch them at.

[TahitiNut]

7. "Democracy cannot be imposed or strengthened with guns and tanks,"

Gorbachev is, imho, one of the most underappreciated individuals of the 20th century. While I sure wouldn't put him in the same categories as Gandhi or Einstein or Sadat or Mandella, I think few of us can possibly appreciate what it took, over a lifetime, to rise in the Communist Party ranks to the very top and then initiate the dismantling of the entire Soviet power structure ... with an incredible lack of bloodshed. Reagan wasn't even a bit player as far as I'm concerned. Gorbachev bore the burden almost totally.

[leftchick]

8. well said gorby!

profanation....

degradation of something worthy of respect; cheapening

[tom_paine]

9. Who would know better than an ex-Communist about fake elections

Gorbachev, whatever his other flaws, was essentially the opposite of of Emperor Tiberius Bunnypants.

Gorbacehev took an Orwellian Tyranny and opened it up to the ideas of freedom.

Bunypants* took a Free Nation and rapidly dismantled it, closed it, and moved it towards Soviet-style Tyranny.