NEWS: US Forces Arrest Deputy Speaker of Iraqi Parliament, page 1

The arrest of a Parliament official whose party stood in protest of how a US/Iraqi military offensive was being planned and conducted, stands in stark contrast to the US stated desire of establishing free elections and a democratic government overall. The legitimacy of this governing body can be opened to criticism by this action.

news.xinhuanet.com
US forces arrested on Tuesday the deputy head of Iraq's interim parliament and a high-ranking member of a Sunni political party after a dawn raid on his Baghdad home, spokesman from his party said.
Naseer Ayaef, a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, was arrested in his home in the western Jamiah neighborhood despite he enjoys immunity as the deputy speaker of the national council (parliament), said the spokesman Iyad al-Samarrai.
Al-Samarrai appealed to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and national council president Fouad Maasum to intervene.

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Making Iraq "free of tyranny & having democratic elections" was all well and good as sound byte fluff, the kind of campaign sloganeering that is proffered by those looking to deceive, or lacking the competency to plan for that lofty outcome. But when legally appointed governing body officials are arrested because of voicing dissent to a destructive action, you have effectively installed a totalitarian state vectoring towards a Fascist state; clearly not a democratic one.
The move of protesting or any sort of dissenting view by the Iraqi people charged with rebuilding the country's civilian infrastructure seems to be consistently met with arrests and armed interventions, the shutting down of Iraqi media being another prime example. These are the things that turn individuals in that country from a concerned but moderate nationalist, who is willing to give things time to shake out, into an armed insurgent. Keeping people yelling at each other in the halls of Parliament is leagues better than having them shoot at each other in the streets of Iraq.

[edit on 18-11-2004 by Bout Time]

[edit on 18-11-2004 by Bout Time]

[edit on 18-11-2004 by Bout Time]