Yeah right...

Just the title of this AP article makes me roll my eyes and go "bullshit":

U.S. rules out covert influence in Iraq election
White House says it won't secretly back pro-U.S. candidates

Sure it won't. As though they couldn't do so without us noticing anyway (at least until the pro-U.S. candidate gets elected) the behind the scenes influence. There is always behind the scenes influence, and them trying to deny that they won't seems to promote the opposite -- that they will.

CRAWFORD, Texas - The White House says it considered secretly backing pro-U.S. candidates in the upcoming Iraqi election, but decided
against it even though the Bush administration suspects other nations are working to influence the voting.

Right... We're even admitting that we considered it. I guess this is some sort of ass covering attempt so that we look "good" by not using realistically possible behind the scenes influence. This is like saying the Pharmaceutical lobbyists have had no behind the scenes influence on the denouncement of getting drugs for cheap from Canada.

“There have been and will continue to be concerns about efforts by outsiders to influence the outcome of the Iraqi elections, including
money flowing from Iran,” White House spokesman Allen Abney said Sunday.

So, we've been pumping money into Iraq from our asses for a year and a half now. By that logic we already have influenced the elections heavily.

“And in the final analysis, we have adopted a policy that we will not try to influence the outcome of the upcoming Iraqi election by covertly
helping individual candidates for office.”

I find it interesting that there is more of a concern about whether or not a Pro-U.S. government comes to power than whether or not the decision is made freely by the people (as though it ever is when it comes to elections between a few elite candidates).

A senior administration official said that deciding whether to covertly support certain candidates in the election scheduled for January was a “hard call.”

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the White House consulted lawmakers before deciding against the idea, which
was first reported by Time.

Boom. There's what prompted this "decision", this "statement". Because TIME blew the whistle on what they will still probably do behind the scenes (it is called behind the scenes since only an elite few know its going on -- i.e. NOT the public or media).

“I don’t discuss covert programs, but I will say that we do have overt programs, and everybody knows about them,” Powell said.

“We will be providing assistance for capacity building in parties so that we can see a political system come alive, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and we’ll be doing it overtly,” Powell said.

>> Full Article (MSNBC)

Helping them make their own poilitical system by helping build the parties. I guess its more of a deciding which party gets to be a major one and which gets to be a smaller. AND he says "I don't discuss covert programs." Sounds like that means there is one by that since he seems to acknowledge it's existence.

Yeah, I'm really skeptical when it comes to any political government. That's a given. I'm not one to blindly trust the "goodness" of the establishment. I'm just recognizing it for what it is, not denouncing it. I'm just entertained by its attempts to sugar coat reality and fool the gullible in an effort to maintain it's own existence through public "stability".