Iraq NOT free

Dear Madam,

Iraq's first 'democratically' elected president Jalal Talabani spoke on Monday before the UN Security Council, meeting to discuss a resolution demanding Syrian co-operation with the organisation. Yesterday he explained how democracy works to London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat;

"I categorically refuse the use of Iraqi soil to launch a military strike against Syria or any other Arab country,"

"But at the end of the day my ability to confront the US military is limited and I cannot impose on them my will."

Evidently the freedoms, continually vaunted by western medias, that Iraqis now enjoy are limited by foreign occupation. One can only hope they will soon experience the level of democratic control those in Ireland and the UK regularly indulge. Where participation, however minimal or forceful, in a war that could potentially cause the death of thousands of innocent people is subject to the presence of indisputable evidence of imminent threat and of course, the majority of citizens approval.

Yours etc...

DUBAI - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said he opposed military action against neighbouring Syria but lacked the power to prevent US troops from using his country as a launchpad if it chose to do so.

"I categorically refuse the use of Iraqi soil to launch a military strike against Syria or any other Arab country," Talabani told the London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat in an interview published Tuesday.

"But at the end of the day my ability to confront the US military is limited and I cannot impose on them my will."

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