"Iraqi Democracy" posted by Richard Seymour

Iraqi democracy is a bit like that album Axl Rose has been working on, Chinese Democracy: it's taking ages, it's probably going to be shit anyway, and nobody's buying it.

These new anti-democracy laws being brought in by the Allawi regime are not exactly conducive to the process. Consider what's being proposed : martial law; curfews; bans on demonstrations; phone tapping; the opening of mail; and the freezing of bank accounts. Robert Fisk reports:

And, what's more, military leaders might be appointed to rule parts of the nation, while a temporary reinstatement of Saddam's death penalty is also now probable.

Already, therefore, Iraq has begun to look just like any other Arab country.

But the insurgency, which the laws are supposedly intended to break, exploded in gunfire in the very centre of Baghdad just as the new legislation was announced.

Incredibly, the fighting broke out in Haifa Street, one of the busiest thoroughfares next to the Tigris River, as gunmen attacked Iraqi police and troops.

US helicopter gunships, at roof-top level, could be seen firing rockets at a building in the street, which burst into flames.

Bullets hissed across the Tigris and at least three soldiers - all believed to be Iraqis - were killed close to the river bank.

Well, that looks like it will help the situation. You know, the only thing they haven't outlawed is guns? Seriously! True, Iraqis used to own guns under Saddam Hussein, and "coalition" forces were swift to try and disarm Iraqis , whether they were Ba'athists or not. The CPA did in fact retain the old licensing system of Saddam's days intact until its dying days, when it left the new regime a transitional law which prevented the ownership of guns "save for compliance with some sort of licensing regimen" . But unless there are some aspects of this new legislation that have not been published (and believe me, I've looked around), there is no aspect of these otherwise despotic laws that prevents the widespread ownership of guns.

My view? The NRA are behind this shit.

Anyway, if you want to understand the dialectic behind the imposition of draconian legislation in the interests of democracy - recall that practically every rightist coup of this century has been enacted precisely in the name of restoring "normality", "order", even "democracy" (Chile, Turkey etc.). In Bosnia and Kosovo, democracy is suspended precisely in order to defend democracy from its own excesses (or so we're told). And if, as I suspect, this new wave of state violence, buttressed by extraordinary American military power, actually compounds and intensifies the resistance in Iraq, we can expect those provisions bequeathed from Paul Bremer to Iyad Allawi allowing the banning of political parties to be used with maximum stringency. All hail the new Iraq!