Straw Poll

Jack Straw paints himself into a corner:

Elections in Iraq this month will be ”imperfect” because they will lack full participation, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in an interview published on Wednesday, referring to an expected Sunni Muslim boycott.

“Obviously the higher the turnout, the greater the legitimacy of the whole process. And the reverse is also true,” Straw told the Financial Times. “These elections are going to be imperfect.”

By Mr. Straw's reckoning, then, if Iraqi participation is higher than that in British elections, then the Iraqi elections will be more legit than his own. See where all that empty posturing has left you, sir? People choosing not to vote is fine. It's only when they are prevented from voting by others that it's a problem.

That Mr. Straw does not understand this simple fact is troublesome indeed. That he attempts to validate the terrorist suppression of democracy, rather than fight ever harder against it, is unforgivable.