Damn the Torpedoes!

Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar is raising more red flags over the January 30 elections,

"Definitely the United Nations, the party who is independent, who cannot be threatened or intimidated and who is credible in the international community, should really stand up for their responsibilities and obligations by saying whether that is possible or not," he said.

"On a logical basis, there are signs that it will be a tough call to hold the election."

"Definitely if a big chunk of the Iraqi population is deprived of participating in elections it will not result in very successful elections," Yawar said.

This isn't the first time the Iraqi president has expressed doubts, but UN spokesman Marie Okabe says that no official request has been received. After previous expressions of doubt, Yawar's always been told by Bush and Allawi to sit down and shut up.

It's interesting that the UN would balk until Iraqi leaders officially ask them whether they think the election can go forward or not, even though UN leaders have unofficially concurred with Yawar's assessment. But a successful election in Afghanistan and a failure in Iraq is a big slap upside the head to Bush's talk of UN irrelevance, isn't it.

It's too bad the Iraqi people were stuck in the middle of all the politics by people and organizations that have resolutely placed themselves in, or been forced into, positions they'd probably rather not occupy.