Before we let ourself feel too triumphant about the recent Iraqi election, we should keep in mind another past electoral success: (via Conrad)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (1967) -- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.

Posted by: Toby Thain | http://www.telegraphics.com.au/ | Fri Feb 4 06:35:20 2005

I was also reminded of the CIA-tilted election in Chile, which failed to deliver the result desired by Nixon and Kissinger in 1970 despite a massive astroturfing campaign managed by American corporate interests in Chile. Salvador Gossens Allende, the progressive candidate, was elected by a majority vote. The Americans, discomfited by this, increased their undercover operations and enlisted a variety of unbalanced coup plotters within the CIA-infiltrated Chile military. After several assassinations the required junta was installed, and the persecution of the populace could begin by a regime friendly to American interests. This is a charade which is been played out countless times in the 20th Century and is being played out in countless places today.

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