Rumsfeld says Loya Jirga can be held in Iraq

[Quetzal]

Rumsfeld says Loya Jirga can be held in Iraq

WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Tuesday said Loya Jirga could be held in Iraq or transfer of power like Afghanistan.

In the meanwhile, eight Iraqis were killed by US troops in Fallujah.

Addressing a press conference in Pentagon, he said that power shift would take place on June 30 in Iraq. He said election process would be held according to the recommendations of UN envoy in Iraq Lakhdar Barahimi.

Rumsfeld said that certainly, Hamid Karzai’s election was not decided, but he was elected through Loya Jirga and added Loya Jirga in Iraq could also be held. He said it was possible that Iraqi would gather and accept the recommendations of Lakhdar Brahimi of government in Iraq would not be permanent but be a temporary.

http://www.geo.tv/main_files/world.aspx?id=14739

An explanation of what a Loya Jirga is can be found here

[Teaser]

1. Loya Jirga is a fraud, and it's an Afghan deal, not Iraqi.

as Juan Cole explain here, the Loya Jirga is an Afghan tradition developed to rubber stamp policies in a tribal society, not an urban and *developed* society like Iraqi.

Rummy let his ass do the speaking again. He really ought to tape that thing closed during press conferences.

[struggle4progress]

13. Rummy belongs to "Who-Cares-What-Your-Country-Is-Called"..

School of Diplomacy.

[NuttyFluffers]

2. well thank god rummy occasionally thinks about culture...

i'm sure what's over in one country can be rubber stamped into another... /sarcasm

i really wonder how well such an idea would float in iraq? i really doubt it. i think rummy is just spouting nonsense again.

[saigon68]

3. Rumsfelt thinking = EOA syndrom Early Onset Alzheimers.

A very dangerous man who will draft your children to attack Iran, coming soon to a theatre near you.

[nodictators]

9. Rummy should go to Iraq and announce his Loya Jirga idea in person

I'll just bet that the Iraqis in Baghdad, Falluja and Najaf will welcome him with flowers and kisses.

It should be a real cakewalk for him!

[David__77]

4. This is tribal bullshit, not representative republicanism.

Fitting for any occupation power. The Soviets too had a "Loya Jirgah" in Afghanistan. This occupation is far more blatant. At least the Soviets were propping up an existing state.

[PATRICK]

5. Apples and oranges

can make a decent fruit salad. Rumsfeld needs to deeply contemplate his analogies and their whimsical inappropriateness in a time of crisis.

Who needs experts in Arab culture or affairs? Rumsfeld can remold it all like putty in his mind.

Whistling in the wind.

[thebigidea]

6. might as well throw in some stuff from the Raj while you're at it, asshole

Rumsfeld: sensitive to culture.

[Minstrel Boy]

7. Hell, why not a Loya Jirga for the United States, too?

I could see the leaders of the Homeland's most prominent tribes gathering in November to select a president. It's pretty much what happened in 2000.

[On the Road]

8. This is Democracy Libyan Style

Ghadaffi's Green Book goes to great lengths to mock Western-style parties and elections and endorse a bottoms-up series of councils from neighborhoods and villages all the way to the top. I think Cuban society is organized along the same lines.

I don't know the advantages and disadvantages of a system like this. Conceivably it could allow more direct participation for the average citizen. It also seems likely to lead to something like one-party rule and possibly possible corruption over time.

It might actually be the best option for Iraq. It's just ironic that Runsefled would think so.

[hatrack]

10. Yeah, Donald, they all look alike anyway! Jeezus!

Let's see, "Loya Jirga" would be a concept familiar to speakers of Dari and Pashto in Afghanistan, far, far away from Iraq.

In Iraq, the majority of the population is ethnic Arab, speak Arabic and probably have a limited working knowledge of Afghan parlimentary procedure.

Oh yeah, and using tribal government as a basis for building a representative liberal democracy in Iraq - that makes a lot of sense - NOT!!

Another great idea from Donald "Cakewalk" Rumsfeld.

[Zero Gravitas]

11. He's going to put the Afghani puppet Govt.

in charge of the Iraqi one? What a genius!

[bobthedrummer]

12. President Karzai has all the support and loyalty of Dyn Corp today,

and Dyn Corp has the contract to run and train Iraqi police-lol, organized crime as a mercenary being paid with our tax money contracted by the administration of George W. Bush aka The War President, there's evidence of state-sponsored terrorism in America, then.

Dyn Corp, and other mercenaries, are huge political contributors that make a killing off war, they profit with war, these mercenaries have created more anti-Americanism, they are arguably helping Osama Bin Laden's calls on that, and they have directly endangered US troops and disrupted US military operations-placing our GI's in danger:grr:
and they bribed their way into the lucrative contracts handed out to MERCENARIES in the employ of The War President, George W. Bush. Check it out for yourselves, just click on Dyn Corp in the following article
Campaign Contributions of Post-War Contractors
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/resources.aspx?act=contrib

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

14. Maybe their knights can sit at a round table too!

[daleo]

15. To complete the parallel, after a Loya Jirga:

- Ahmed Chalabi would be mayor of Baghdad, more or less (although he couldn't walk around without an American armed guard).
- Western troops would control the Baghdad airport, more or less.
- Warlords would control the rest of the country.
- Saddam's men would slowly be retaking large parts of the countryside.

If this is what Bush wanted to go to war for, he should have told the truth to congress, the U.S. people, and the world.