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01/28/2005:

"Arabs Say Iraq Vote Gives Democracy a Bad Name"

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Bush sees Sunday's election in Iraq as a beacon for freedom in the Middle East, but Arab reformers say the poll will set back their cause.

Arab human rights activists say the Iraqi election is deeply flawed and will give democracy a bad name. They say violence and the prospect of a Sunni Arab boycott will undermine the poll. Many Arabs, already suspicious of U.S. intentions in Iraq, are also dismissing the vote's credibility because of the presence of the 150,000 U.S. troops there.

``The influence of the elections for us as democrats is disastrous,'' Syrian human rights activist Haytham Manna told Reuters from Paris. ``When you marginalize wide sections of society from the political process ... this is not democracy.''

``With this example, all the Arab extremists will say to us: 'You democrats, go to hell, because you haven't been able to solve our problems with your democracy and elections','' said Manna, who left Syria in 1978 as a political exile.
Full Article: nytimes.com/reuters