‘Democracy is supposed to be about ordinary people, common folk, having a say-so in the decisions that shape their lives; the idea that there's an "inalienable right" to certain freedoms; that the only legitimate government is one that answers to "the people." In democracies, people are not subjects, but citizens.

Democracy?

Raed Jarrar, the Iraq project director for Global Exchange, a human rights organization, who has spent a lot of time talking to members of Iraq's parliament, points out how the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to extend the occupation force in Iraq. The security council voted with the quickness after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki requested the extension.

U.S. and British "diplomats" rushed the vote through last month, even though it wasn't on the council's agenda for November.

"The Iraqi parliament was not informed about this (request) by al-Maliki. I talked to four Iraqi MPs: a Sunni, a Shia, and two seculars, and all of them were totally shocked that al-Maliki bypassed the Iraqi parliament."

Dr. Hajim al-Hassani, a Sunni secular MP and the former speaker of parliament, told Jarrar: "We were supposed to have a meeting with al-Maliki and other top officials in the parliament during the next couple of weeks to decide what to do with the mandate."

"According to most of the MPs I talked to," Jarrar continues, "it is unconstitutional to have the prime minister renewing the mandate without consulting the Iraqi parliament."

Democracy?’

Democracy -- Shamocracy