Posted on 12/15/2005 4:27:18 AM PST by saveliberty
| With delight and fervor, Iraqis cast ballots Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:30 AM ET By Luke Baker BAGHDAD (Reuters) - There may not be the same sense of history this time round, but the joy and determination of Iraqi voters emerging from dictatorship is still evident. Young and old, able-bodied and infirm, they streamed to polls for the third time in 11 months on Thursday, this time to elect a four-year parliament. While not as novel as the first post-Saddam Hussein election in January, participation was more widespread. Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the earlier poll for an interim assembly, flocked to vote this time, determined not to miss out on power again. "I'm delighted to be voting for the first time," said 21-year-old driver Jamal Mahmoud in Ramadi, a Sunni Arab city west of Baghdad that has been at the front line of the anti-American insurgency for the past two years. "This election will lead to the American occupation forces leaving Ramadi and Iraq," he said. That may still take some time, but the vote does complete the U.S. timetable for shunting Iraq toward democracy, nearly three years after American troops toppled Saddam in April, 2003. Once a new government is in place, which could take several weeks, the groundwork for withdrawing foreign troops may be laid down, including plans for improving Iraqi security forces so they can fight insurgents on their own. On Thursday it wasn't serving Iraqi soldiers who were heading to the polls -- they voted earlier in the week -- but veterans of some of Saddam's wars, determined to see change after decades of sanctions and hardship. Hadi Mishaal, who suffered spinal injuries while fighting U.S. forces after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991, struggled to a voting station in Baghdad, propped up on a single crutch. He came with his wife, hobbling more than 2 km (over a mile) to make sure he was one of the first to vote in his district. "I am trying to get to the voting station. I just want leaders that will help me," said Mishaal, 55, who said he had never received a war pension. "I have no money. I have nothing." While there was sporadic violence, including a mortar attack in Baghdad, voting appeared to go smoothly in a secure, if tense, atmosphere. Turnout began slowly, but picked up steadily. "Ballot boxes are a victory of democracy over dictatorship," said Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari capturing something of the moment as he cast his vote in the protected Green Zone. "The real triumph is that people are casting ballots, whoever they choose, and that they've chosen voting over bombs." BALLOT OF BLOOD In Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city in northern Iraq, where Kurds, Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmen are vying to prove their demographic strength, there was celebration and defiance. Hussein Garmiyani, a Kurd dressed in traditional clothing, was an early voter in the Shorja district. He jabbed his finger with a pin and cast his ballot in blood. "I was a victim of the Anfal campaign," he said, referring to Saddam's purge of the Kurds in the 1980s. "These past years were years of blood and I signed for freedom with my blood." At another voting center, around 50 people, all in Kurdish baggy trousers, held flowers as they waited for it to open. Some of the most dramatic scenes were in western Iraq, in the cities of Ramadi and Falluja, both once heartlands of the insurgency, where voters disdained January's election. This time they turned up in strong numbers -- so strong that ballot sheets ran out in some voting stations. "We have huge numbers of voters waiting at stations, but we don't have enough ballot papers," said Najib Mahmood, an official with the Electoral Commission in Falluja. Earlier, some Falluja residents had complained that voting stations were too far away from their homes, so the Electoral Commission laid on cars for those unable to walk. "The problem is, we don't have enough cars to cope with number of voters," said Mahmood, describing a complete turnaround in sentiment from January, when just two percent of those registered in Anbar province cast ballots. In the far south of Iraq, in impoverished Maysan province, which straddles the marshlands formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, there was hope among the Shi'ite population, which frequently suffered the wrath of Saddam. "This is a day of freedom for us," said Selima Khalif, an elderly woman. "We are so happy. The most important thing we need is security. We want our children to get a better life." Families walked together to vote with her, and others came on bicycles, keen to make their ballots count. And in Mosul, Iraq's third largest city in the north, where a year ago security collapsed and the police force deserted, there was a renewed sense of hope and determination. "I came to vote because I want the Americans to leave Iraq," said Khazal Mohammed Said, 47, a sheep trader. "There is no Iraqi Muslim who wants a foreigner to occupy this country." |
Iraqi election ping
Wear purple today--even if it's just a purple tie
A caller on Dr. Bennett's program just suggested that the cut and runners dip their fingers in yellow ink :)
The 'evil' George W. Bush is responsible for this.
Democrats like Murtha and Kerry should be asked, "Should we have pulled out our troops before this election, or should we have stayed to be sure that it worked? Are these elections good or bad for Iraq, the US, and the world? Should we stay to protect the gains that Iraq has made or should we leave right now and risk losing them all to Al Qaeda?" And most important of all, "Should President Bush be praised bringing democracy to Iraq?" I doubt that anyone in the MSM will ask any of those questions.
Freedom is not free. There is a cost. Usually, the cost must be paid in blood.
And possibly make them look bad? Perish the thought!
This is article is so thrilling, encouraging, and upbeat that I don't know how it made it past the Reuter's censors.
LOL! I am all purpled up today. Purple top, purple sweater.
And antlers for the Christmas cheer :-)
The moonbats will never understand that.
If it's ever a success, you know who will claim credit for it.
I've been on the Iraq Live Thread. And I'm wearing my purple turtleneck for the day and when I go out I intend to use purple ink pens and hope to get asked a lot of questions.
Murtha is crazy
And Kerry has told us that he voted for it, before he voted against it. Will TerAYzah make him sleep in the car?
It was minus one this morning in MA
It's not like any other MSM outlet will run with it.
Oh, thanks! I will check it out.
What other dominant nation, in the history of the world, would put together an election like this and ENCOURAGE the political opposition that wants us out of Iraq to vote in it? Any other great empire for the past thousands of years would have just annexed Iraq as a colony, a prize of war, and kept the oil for itself.
Makes me feel very proud and very blessed to be an American.
}:-)4
I agree. And I am proud and blessed to be able to support the Iraqis exercise their new found freedom and vote to hold their officials accountable.
Syrians, Egyptians, Saudis, etc. They all are watching. And their government quake.
Interesting to contrast the Iraqi election with the current Canadian election -- with the Canadians kicking, screaming and struggling, bawling and squalling that they are being "forced" to vote when they really want to eat, drink and shop!
"The Canadian people DON'T WANT AN ELECTION!" we hear bawled at us day and night.
And in Iraq the lame, the halt, the blind and the poor are walking 2 km to vote, bringing their entire families along in celebration.
You'd think the Canadians would be ashamed of themselves but apparently they passed that station about 30 years ago.
government= governments
Great quote
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