When are elections democratic?
 

Bush says that Iraq will have free democratic elections this coming January.

How ever Rumsfeld says other wise.

“US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, however, suggested that only partial elections might be held, excluding places where violence was too severe.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3684690.stm

First question would have to be, who has the pulse of the international affairs, Bush or Rumsfeld?

Second question is how can an election be democratic if everyone does not have the right to vote?

I saw a news report out of the corner of my eye tonight where an Iraqi official said 19 of the 21 districts will be voting. I suppose that's not bad. That's like 45 of the 50 states voting.

This is a pretty good representation of the mixed messages that we're getting from the administration concering Iraq. We're told that the situation is improving there even as the insurgents are gaining control of more and more cities.Wishful thinking won't make the problems go away, but it may help Bush get re-elected.

Here's a paste of the actual Rumsfeld quote:
Well, golly gee Mr Rumsfeld, that almost sounds like a legitimate election!

It would be bad if they were the opposition's stronghold, though. (edit: say, a Republican government striking California from the list..)

It would be beyond stupid, and I believe unlikely, that they would specifically sabotage the Sunnis in the Sunni Triangle.

But I guess the possibility is there.

The areas that wouldn't be involved with the elections are almost certainly the same areas that the insurgents control. This is self-explanatory, no?

Obviously some areas are gonna be too dangerous to set of voting booths.

Excuse me, Mr. Terrorist/freedom fighter with a rpg/AK-47 pointed at me, were gonna try and have some elections here, would you mind not firing your weapons at me for a couple days? No, your gonna still fight? Ok then, no voting booth here.

Exactly.

There are places there where it is much too dangerous to risk election officials. Place them where they can be useful and most likely survive.

If anything, it helps our cause by showing that we want the Iraqis to elect their own government, but the militants are hampering this freedom.

So how much of the coutry has to be off-limits before the elections begin to lose credibility?

Any amount greater than zero.

So pretty much every US election ever conducted has no credibility?

Well, rukkyg's allowable tolerance of < 1% may be a little harsh, but I don't know of any areas of the US that are too dangerous for polling to be conducted.

West Baltimore and Southeast DC :p