More farce in the Middle East
The AP reports that the Arab League is not yet ready to recognize the Iraqi Governing Council:
Arab League members decided Tuesday not to recognize Iraq’s U.S.-appointed Governing Council, saying they will wait until a government is elected.
Arab officials welcomed the council’s creation as a first step toward new leadership in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. But the decision Tuesday showed that Arab governments are keeping some distance from the body – dismissed by many in Iraq and across the Arab world as a puppet of Iraq’s U.S. and British occupiers.
The decision means Iraq’s seat at the 22-member Arab League will remain empty for the time being.
“The council is a start, but it should pave the way for a legitimate government that can be recognized,” league Secretary-General Amr Moussa said after a committee of foreign ministers met to forge a unified stance on how to deal with Iraq.
They appear to be shocked, utterly shocked, that the council is not elected, and they are upset because they think it is a puppet government. So let’s do a quick review of the Arab League.
Membership:
Algeria: run by the military
Bahrain: just had its first elections in 30 years, but political parties are illegal
Comoros: this one actually seems to have elections, although they are dubious and it has also had some recent military coups
Djibouti: Fake elections
Egypt: fake elections
Iraq
Jordan: ruled by an unelected monarch
Kuwait: a monarchy maybe becoming democratic
Lebanon: this one is actually a democracy, but that doesn’t really matter since it is a puppet state of Syria
Libya: ooh, tough one here
Mauritania: fake elections
Morocco: ruled by unelected monarch
Oman: unelected absolute monarch
Palestine: enough said
Qatar: absolute monarch
Saudi Arabia: ruled by unelected monarch
Somalia: governed by, roughly, no one at all
Sudan: even the CIA is dismissive of their elections
Syria: ruled by unelected dictator
Tunisia: fake elections
United Arab Emirates: absolute monarch
Yemen: the last time around, the president suffered the ignomy of only getting 96.3% of the vote
So, generously, really generously, out of the other 21 states in the Arab League, you might call Bahrain, Comoros, Kuwait, and Lebanon democracies, if you want to use the word loosely. The rest are absolute monarchies and dictatorships. Lebanon is a puppet state of Syria. This is the outfit that wants to complain that the Iraqi Governing Council is an unelected puppet regime that does not represent the will of the people.
UPDATE: Not only do CalPundit and Thomas Friedman and I agree about the mess that is the Arab League, even Robert Fisk does not much like them. Of course, some of the bosses of the Arab League are the richest people in the world, so I don’t suppose they mind too much.