Democracy is Messy

Yes, Donald Rumsfeld was right, Democracy is messy, at least for the Bush administration. In Iraq their one and two choices for tyrant prime minister, Allawi and Chalabi, have lost big time and the Iranian leaning Shiite theocrats have won a majority.

BAGHDAD, Dec. 19 -- Initial results of Iraq's national election from more than half the country's provinces brought a strong showing by Shiite and Kurdish parties, Iraq's electoral commission announced Monday, underscoring the secular divisions of the country.

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The partial election results, which did not include Sunni-dominated areas of western Iraq, suggested that the Islamist Shiite alliance that dominates the current government had done well and could win an outright majority in the new assembly. In the Shiite southern heartland, the Shiite alliance also appears to have won a decisive victory.

The results also suggested that smaller parties, like that headed by former U.S. adviser Ahmed Chalabi, fared poorly in last Thursday's balloting.

And in Bolivia the winner is the candidate who makes Venezuela's Hugo Chavez look like a moderate, Evo Morales.

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia -- Bolivia's socialist presidential candidate Evo Morales, who has promised to become Washington's "nightmare," said his victory was assured in Sunday's elections after two independent exit polls showed him with an unexpectedly strong lead.

If the projected margin holds, Morales, a coca farmer who has said he will end a U.S.-backed anti-drug campaign aimed at eradicating the crop used to make cocaine, will likely be declared president in January over his conservative opponent.

"If (the U.S.) wants relations, welcome," Morales said after voting, holding a news conference where piles of coca leaves were spread atop a Bolivian flag. "But no to a relationship of submission."

Yes Democracy is messy if you are a corporate imperialist.