Condi and Nancy On Election in Iraq

David Ignatius has an interesting piece today in the Washington Post on the Jan 2005 elections in Iraq. In the run-up, the US initiated a finding to authorize the CIA to counter heavy Iranian funding of extremist Shi'ite parties. But after a large sum had been distributed to moderate" Shi'ites, the CIA found the "finding" abrogated and went to the moderates to ask for their money back.

It appears that the dynamic duo behind the turn-around of the finding were none other than Nancy Pelosi and Condoleeza Rice.
They were afraid of "appearances" that the US was supporting moderate Shi'ites while evidently not afraid of Iranian-backed Shi'ites.

Wasn't it Condi Rice who also the same year had the bright idea of including Hamas in the elections on the West Bank and Gaza, in order to keep "balanced elections?" We all know what happened to that brainstorm of the new US SecState.

David Ignatius politely calls the Iraqi election a "mixture of hubris and naivete."

With Hamas, Condi has leaped far above hubris and won the Guinness Record for naivete, IMHO.

And our allies in Iraq and Israel are both scratching their heads, as are the Fatah factions in the Palestinian Authority we are now forced to support, after a coup d'etat in Gaza.

I for one wished Condi had got her "Dream Job" of NFL Commissioner and had Michael Vick to deal with rather than Hamas and Hezbollah and the Iranian Mullahcracy.