Ignore them and hold the elections. People can decide to vote—or not—but hold the elections.
The Sunnis are suspect anyway because they hope for American withdrawal and chaos in which they can emerge victorious in a vicious war with the majority, counting on their experience in terror to put them on top once again.
But the Kurds? Aren’t they our friends? Certainly, but remember that for many Kurds a free Iraqi in which they are a minority is considered better than subjugation by a Sunni dictatorship, but not as good as independence. Why take chances of a Shia dictatorship, they may think. So the Kurds voicing this opinion have ulterior motives not in line with our policies, too. They don’t want to alienate America by unilaterally pulling out of elections, but they wouldn’t mind if the blame was spread around and they could say they tried, it failed, and darn it all but we need an independent state.
The article repeats what seems to be the conventional wisdom as divined by the press:
A widespread boycott by the Sunni community could deny the elected parliament and government the legitimacy that U.S. and Iraqi authorities believe is necessary to help bring stability to Iraq and curb the insurgency.
Why would this deny the new government legitimacy? Why would voting by 75% of the population lack legitimacy (let’s assume half the Kurds and Sunnis vote and a small number of Shias boycott)? Why should the desires of a violent minority dictate when or whether Iraq should hold an election? This is preposterous! Why tell the violent thugs that continued violence will cancel the elections? Isn’t this what they want? Don’t the Sunni Baathists fear a democratic Iraq?
I fear that failure to hold elections when the clear majority wants elections will erode legitimacy. Do not let a violent minority and an ambivalent minority put off the elections. For their own reasons, each would like a delay to mean a cancellation—and then they can move on to their real objectives.
Hold the elections. On time. And if some don’t take part? Oh well. This is not one man, one vote, one time. There will be another one and after a few years of contemplating their error, they’ll take part in the second free presidential election in free Iraq.
