[ScarletPumpernickel]

I think our government may be playing footsie with the Iranians in order to facillitate an honorable exit from Iraq.

Iraq official: Iran sending 'fake families' to vote
Defense minister concerned about integrity of Sunday's elections


Posted: January 26, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern



© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Iraq's defense minister says Iran is sending "fictitious families" to Iraq to vote in the historic elections set for Sunday.

Defense Minister Hazem Al-Sha'lan made the comments in a television interview aired on Al-'Arabiya TV Jan. 19. His remarks were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI-TV. A video clip is available on the organization's website.


Here is the dialogue from the broadcast:


Interviewer: It is possible that non-Iraqis who came from abroad will participate in the elections?
Al-Sha'lan: Of course. This is what I warned about. There are fictitious families who came from beyond the border. The father belongs to the Iranian intelligence, the mother belongs to the Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the children are orphans cared for by the Revolutionary Guard. They all came from beyond the border, in the form of fictitious families. They settled in Basra, Al-Nassiriya, Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad. …

Interviewer: How do they obtain "supply-cards" in order to vote in the elections?

Al-Sha'lan: … They speak fluent Arabic. It is all a forgery. Even "supply-cards" and passports can be forged. We're in a predicament.

[wildames]

Re:"I think our government may be playing footsie with the Iranians in order to facillitate an honorable exit from Iraq."

Suits me......as long as we exit ASAP.

[ScarletPumpernickel]

We would have been much better off to have paid Saddam $100 billion on the condition that he leave Iraq for good and take his family with him. I believe he would have taken us up on it. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.

[Redrum]

We would have been much better off to have paid Saddam $100 billion on the condition that he leave Iraq for good and take his family with him. I believe he would have taken us up on it. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.
His ego would not have allowed that....

[ScarletPumpernickel]

If we had explained "Plan B", he would have re-considered. Always leave a man an out.

[Marinesg1012]

This way is much more fun though, (that was a joke)

I doubt we are playing footsie's with Iran, if there are foriegners in country they would be voting for the secular rule to set up a country like iran, we dont need another one of them

[7.62mmFMJ]

Paying SH to leave would have left a Baathist regime. Talk about flushing $100B! Even if the Bbaathists left in total, there would have been a melt down.

[wildames]

Re:"We would have been much better off to have paid Saddam $100 billion on the condition that he leave Iraq for good and take his family with him. I believe he would have taken us up on it. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20."

Should have paid him to stay IMO...."sorry for the trouble....keep your thumb on the fundamentalists....BTW...we would like you to break with OPEC and be our major oil supplier....Saudis are acting funny these days."

Re:"if there are foriegners in country they would be voting for the secular rule to set up a country like iran, we dont need another one of them"

The Iraqi Shia certainly don't need any help setting up an Islamic state....the Iranians are just hedging their bet.....I truly wonder who the hawks in the Bush Administration thought were going to take power in Iraq after Saddam. You cannot have democracy in the ME without allowing Islamist participation....too many...too popular.