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.

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
  

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.

United States Of America: Fake Elections

And can you get any more disingeneous? The Arab League is saying they will only recognize a legitamate Iraqi government, such as an elected one. The only quote that has anything to do with democracy is this: "If this Council was elected, it would have gained much power and credibility."

Shocked. Can't you just hear the shock in that quote? Of course not. He's not shocked, he's saying the current American puppet regime in Iraq is not credible; It does not really rule Iraq, the US does. An elected one would be credible and, one assumes, a king, military junta or strongman dictator would be as well. So long as they actually ruled Iraq.

Seeing as how the US has promised a representative elected government, it is only logical for him to say that the AL is waiting for that promised democratic state before readmitting Iraq into the organization.

Duh.

Dr Sjostrom: Very nicely done, as you so often do.

This has about equal parts chutzpah and irony.