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Iraqi lawmakers have only a day left to agree on a new bill that would enable the country to hold key parliament elections in January, according to remarks Wednesday by the country's election commission chairman. The chairman, Faraj al-Haidari, said he warned the legislators that if they don't approve the election law by the end of Thursday, the country's nationwide vote will be delayed Any postponement in the Jan. 16 balloting could undermine the country's fragile stability and impact U.S. plans to withdraw troops from Iraq, now scheduled to ramp up after the vote. The possibility of the delay is...

It’s slightly embarrassing to write about this event two weeks after the fact, but it’s even more so not to bring it up at all: On January 31, there were local elections all throughout Iraq. News of the elections didn’t catch the attention of most of the mainstream media. I myself had heard about it only from a WABC-radio news broadcast. CNN, to their credit, was on it, reporting on the 27th that “About 14,000 candidates will be competing for 440 provincial council seats in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces”. That’s fantastic! As for the rest of the MSM, they...

Ever Wonder what ever happened to Iraq? Did our hero's come home? After all, you hardly ever hear about it on the eventing news any more. It used to be the top story every day. Where did it go? Maybe Tim Russert is right, a few months before he passed away he admitted that the better things get in Iraq the less likely that there will be coverage Tim Russert: WE DON'T COVER GOOD NEWS The elections that just took place in Iraq are a great example of what I mean. While it was reported that the elections got off...

Last Sunday Iraq held new elections. There was no violence so it’s doubtful you heard much about the way they went. Things went too smoothly for our phony media to be bothered reporting this story. The Collins Report was forwarded an E mail from a highly placed American military commander expressing his delight at how the day unfolded. Here’s what he reported. In Anbar Province the news was positively exhilarating. There were no suicide bombers blowing voters up; no Marines had to battle terrorist skunks trying to stop democracy by killing Iraqi voters. …… participating in their very first free...

Polling was peaceful, the results encouraging. We could yet be looking at a model for Arab states The weekend's elections in Iraq were a huge success for the Iraqi people. The remarkably peaceful day of voting on Saturday - and the interim results - give good reason to hope Iraq really is on the way to building a decent society. These provincial elections were held in 14 of the country's 18 provinces (Kurdistan will hold separate elections, and the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk was deemed "too hard" at present). This was the first post-Saddam election that the Iraqis handled...

The Truth - Iraqi elections mean Nothing to the democrats! FOX just had a discussion about President Bush's upcoming speech this Monday night. When asked about the impact it would have, "democratic strategist" Mary Ann Marsh said, "Bush giving a speech, is like having an election in Iraq, it doesn't mean anything". How Foul and Disgusting!!

In selecting al-Jaafari as its nominee for a second term, the dominant Shiite bloc has betrayed the hopes of all those who have wanted Iraq's first constitutionally elected government to make a fresh start at reunifying the country, rebuilding the economy and putting an end to the beating, torture and murder of civilians by Shiite militia members in and out of the official security forces. Jaafari has been a spectacular failure on all these fronts over the past 10 months. He is unlikely to do a better job if he gets the job a second time, particularly since he owes...

The silence was deafening and the seats were empty. The western press was nowhere to be found. The location was Baghdad and the event was a February 10th, 2006 press conference announcing the final verification of December's election results. Although the final allocation of parliamentary seats did not change from last month's tentative reports, the conference was nonetheless significant for American and Iraqi history. What was equally significant was the absence of members of the western press.If the pre-release of the topics to be discussed included reports of widespread voter fraud, complaints by detained terrorists of maltreatment, or a sudden...

Baghdad, 2 Jan. (AKI) - The Sunni Iraqi Islamic party is mooting a possible alliance in the country's first democratically elected permanent parliament with supporters of firebrand Shiite muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a party's spokesman, Ala Makki said on Monday, quoted by Iraq's Nina News agency. "There is much common ground on a number of national political topics between the two formations. This is why we are putting together an agreement to form a new alliance," said Makki. The preliminary results of Iraq's general election, held on 15 December, show Sadr supporters taking as many as 31 seats in Iraq's...

It’s become clear from the active shuttle-like movement of the rival parties and mediators that the intensity of the political crisis began to subside compared to how things looked like a week ago. In spite of the violence that disturbed Baghdad this morning, the rival parties resumed their meetings and talks with some politicians playing the role of mediators; the most prominent of whom is President Talabani and even in the two main competing camps we’re hearing moderate voices emerge to propose solutions like the Virtue Party from the UIA and al-Mutlaq from Maram.

I think most of you have seen the disturbing results of the elections after the commission completed counting 90% of the votes. I think the announcement was due to pressures on the commission which also chose to show the results of the Sunni provinces apparently to calm the Accord Front down a bit as the Front achieved good results in those provinces. Today we heard that a delegation of Hachim al-Hasani (chairman of the National Assembly), Mowafaq al-Rubai’i (national security advisor) and Barham Salih (planning minister, a Kurd) went to the Accord Front to talk to them and convince them...

(sic)I listened to this person arlene violet. She is not happy with election in Iraq. This arlene does not liking of America in Iraq! My Iraqi brothers love the freedoms soldeirs of Americans give us. This woman is worried about Saddamists and there rights. How is this woman so crazy. My people are good and braeve, My people no what blood is given by Anerica. We will not forget! I heard her today, why is she on the side of Saddam! It is her words I swear . This whjj is agaist you the liberators why? This woman should be...

The night the Berlin Wall came down, I was glued to the television coverage and watched ABC's Prime Time Live engage in real-time reporting of the breach of the wall and the spread of democracy to Eastern Europe. Sam Donaldson -- who had served as the White House correspondent during the Reagan Administration -- was one of the co-hosts of the broadcast, and at one point during the coverage, he had a chance to interview his old rhetorical sparring partner -- former President Ronald Reagan. Donaldson was warm and gracious to the former President as they both watched history be...

BAGHDAD — There is an Arabic phrase that aptly describes Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani's role in this week's elections: "Absent yet present." Sistani, who wields vast influence among Iraq's majority Shiites, has not publicly endorsed any candidates. But there's little doubt of his choices — and why. The Iranian-born cleric has issued a binding fatwa, or edict, instructing followers to vote in Thursday's parliamentary elections. He did not endorse any particular candidates, but his cryptic warning against "splitting the vote and risking its waste" suggested his support for major Shiite religious parties grouped in the United Iraqi Alliance. The...

With delight and fervor, Iraqis cast ballotsThu Dec 15, 2005 6:30 AM ET By Luke BakerBAGHDAD (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...

Today President Bush participated in a roundtable discussion on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit program at Greenspring Village Retirement Community in Springfield, Virginia. This afternoon he met with Republican leaders in the Roosevelt Room at the White House to discuss strategy in the War on Terror.Tonight at 10:00, MSNBC will broadcast the complete hour long interview of Brian Williams with President Bush (and Mike recommends it, so it's got to be good!)Enjoy your trip to Sanity Island on the Daily Dose!!

FALLUJA/RAMADI Iraq (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein loyalists who violently opposed January elections have made an about-face as Thursday's polls near, urging fellow Sunni Arabs to vote and warning al Qaeda militants not to attack. In a move unthinkable in the bloody run-up to the last election, guerrillas in the western insurgent heartland of Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. Graffiti calling for holy war is now hard to find. Instead, election campaign posters dominate buildings in the rebel strongholds of Ramadi and...

One finger at a time By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Iraq is under siege. And, for a moment, it has nothing to do with "insurgents," Saddam meltdowns or weak-kneed U.S. politicians. This siege is one that your average American is pretty familiar with: that mentally fatiguing final week leading to Election Day. Iraq resembles a targeted swing state; sophisticated media have taken hold. Savvy radio and television commercials bear a striking similarity to those produced here; political consultants are even advising campaigns on media saturation and how to react to developments. With campaign signs plastering every vertical surface available, the only...

Bill Bennett has asked Americans for a colorful favor that will help show support for democracy throughout the world. "On Dec. 12, when elections begin in Iraq,” Bennett told Neil Cavuto in a Fox News Channel interview, "let’s see many Americans color their right index finger purple in solidarity for the people voting in free elections in Iraq.” Bennett, who supports the war against terrorism and the continued liberation of Iraq, said President Bush is wise to "stay the course” in the face of negative attacks by Democrats and jelly-legged critics who are calling for the U.S. to pull troops...

BAGHDAD , Iraq – Acting on intelligence sources and tips provided by Iraqi citizens, Multi-National forces conducted simultaneous raids in the Rahwah and Karabilah regions to capture or kill terrorists within the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi network. Multiple sources of intelligence indicated that elements of the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist network were operating in the area, including key lieutenants, suicide bombers, and a contingent of foreign fighters. Multi-National forces engaged and destroyed these targets. Operations against suspected foreign fighter strongholds resulted in killing over a dozen terrorists and foreign fighters. Specifically the bodies of three Saudis and one Moroccan have been...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi forces swept through Baghdad on Sunday, erecting checkpoints and searching vehicles as they launched the largest offensive of its kind since Saddam Hussein's ouster, but insurgents hit back with suicide bombings and ambushes that killed at least 21 people, including a British soldier. [end] The first of more than 40,000 soldiers and police, who are being supported by U.S. forces, searched hundreds of vehicles and raided several houses, described as "terrorist dens" in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, arresting several suspects, army Capt. Ihssan Abdel-Hamza said. Operation Lightning was launched as a direct challenge to the bloody wave...

More than 23,000 young Iraqis in the southern province of Dhiqar have responded to a call to set up a new battalion to protect the province. The provincial authorities have been swamped with applications, Governor Aziz Kadhem told the newspaper. He said the authorities had asked for maximum 1,000 volunteers but “we have received more than 23,000 applications so far.” The new force will be based in Nasiriya, the province’s capital and home to more than 550,000 people. Nasiriya, on the Euphrates River, is relatively quiet but, according to Kadhem, the new force is needed to bring stability across the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 5 - Iraq's major political parties agreed this evening to appoint a president and two vice presidents at a meeting of the national assembly on Wednesday, according to a senior assembly leader, breaking a two-month deadlock in negotiations to form a new government. The main Shiite and Kurdish political blocs have agreed to name Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader, as president; Adel Abdul Mahdi, a prominent Shiite Arab politician, as vice president; and Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, the Sunni Arab president of the interim government, as the other vice president, said Hussein al-Shahristani, a vice speaker of the...

Iraqi combat capability on the upswing Written by W. Thomas Smith Jr. Friday April 1, 2005 "It's going to be tougher than anything you've ever experienced," a U.S. Marine recruiter warns a young leatherneck hopeful. "You'll face down your fears, overcome terrifying obstacles, and at times function on little food and no sleep." Sounds severe, but everything is relative. Recruits hoping to earn the title, "Marine," expect training to be demanding. They also take for granted the enormous efforts made to ensure their safety during dangerous training, and – despite accidents and the occasional "bad seed" drill-instructor – no one...

Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician. Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election.

Say the word mujahid — or holy warrior — these days and many inhabitants of Baghdad are likely to snigger. An appellation once worn as a badge of pride by anti-American insurgents has now become street slang for homosexuals, after men claiming to be captured Islamist guerrillas confessed that they were holding gay orgies in the popular Iraqi TV programme Terror in the Hands of Justice. For Iraqis opposed to the predominantly Sunni Islamist insurgency, Terror in the Hands of Justice, which airs twice daily on Iraqi public television, has broken the mystique of a force that used to strike...

IRAQ: Al Qaeda Losses Up, American Losses Down March 24, 2005: More Iraqis are losing their fear of terrorists. In the last three days, tips from Iraqis have led Iraqi police and troops to several terrorist hideouts. This has resulted in some spectacular gun battles, and the deaths of over 130 terrorists (and about a dozen police and soldiers.) The Iraqis have been using their growing force of SWAT teams to carry out the raids, with American forces providing backup and air cover. One raid, north of Baghdad, left 85 terrorists dead, and revealed a suicide car bomb workshop, as...

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BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 23 - Iraqi and American forces killed at least 80 insurgents during a Tuesday morning raid on what appeared to be the biggest guerrilla training camp yet discovered, Iraqi officials said today. Seven Iraqi police officers were also killed and six were wounded in what American and Iraqi officials characterized as an especially fierce battle. "It was one of the largest such engagements that I'm aware of," said Col. Robert Potter, a spokesman for the American command in Baghdad. The number of anti-government fighters killed was the most reported in a single conflict since the American offensive...

The election in Iraq has done to some on the anti-war left what the revelations of torture in Abu Ghraib prison did to others on the hawkish right. Mark Brown wonders aloud in the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times: What if Bush has been right about Iraq all along? The Daily Show's Jon Stewart said something similar to Fareed Zakaria. "What if Bush, the president, ours, has been right about this all along? I feel like my world view will not sustain itself and I may, and again I don't know if I can physically do this, implode." Richard Gwyn...

Breaking News: Shiite victory is Certified -Foxnews Headline- Iraq Certifies Elections; Shiite Bloc Gets Assembly Majority More to come

Introduction By all accounts the general elections held in Iraq on January 30, 2005 were a seminal event in the history of the country and, by extension, an important benchmark by which the future evolution of democracies in other countries of the Middle East will be measured. The people of Iraq went by the millions to cast their ballots in a first step toward establishing a democratic regime. The mechanism of the elections was as follows: Each Iraqi voter was given the opportunity to cast two ballots: one for the national assembly and one for one of the eighteen provincial...

As expected, the majority Shiites took a bunch of the seats in the new Iraqi assembly. But, even though they only got about 47% of the vote, this spells doom and failure for Iraqi democracy . . . we're told. The left-wing propaganda rag "Washington Post" ran a spastic headline claiming that Iraq would now be ruled by "allies of Iran," though we're told there are no French politicians in the new assembly. Democrats and news journalizists everywhere cursed the Shitte party that gained a plurality of the popular vote, saying that the poor Sunnis will be left out of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Clergy-backed Shiites and independence-minded Kurds swept to victory in Iraq's landmark elections, propelling to power the groups that suffered the most under Saddam Hussein and forcing Sunni Arabs to the margins for the first time in modern history, according to final results released Sunday. But the Shiites' 48 percent of the vote is far short of the two-thirds majority needed to control the 275-member National Assembly. The results threw immediate focus on Iraqi leaders' backdoor dealmaking to create a new coalition government - possibly in an alliance with the Kurds - and on efforts to lure...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Here is a list of the political alliances receiving the most votes in Iraq's Jan. 30 national elections and the number of seats they will receive in the 275-member National Assembly, provided the results released Sunday are certified. The United Iraqi Alliance (Shiite alliance backed by Shiite Muslim clergy): 4,075,295 - about 48 percent - for 140 seats. The Kurdistan Alliance (coalition of two main Kurdish factions): 2,175,551 - about 26 percent - for 75 seats. The Iraqi List (headed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi): 1,168,943 - about 14 percent - for 40 seats. Iraqis...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey urged Iraqi electoral officials and the United Nations to examine what it claimed were skewed Iraqi elections results released Sunday, saying it was particularly concerned about vote tallies in the oil-rich and ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk. Turkey has long complained that Kurdish groups were illegally moving Kurds into Kirkuk, a strategic northern city, in an effort to tip the city's population balance in their favor. Turkish officials did not make direct reference to the Kurds on Sunday, but the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that voter turnout in some regions was low...

The final vote tally from Iraq's Jan. 30 elections will be announced at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Sunday, the Election Commission said. "Tomorrow, at 4 p.m., we will announce the results," commission spokesman Farid Ayar said. The final vote tally had been expected earlier in the week but was delayed while ballot boxes were checked for signs of tampering. Partial results so far show an alliance of mainly Shi'ite Islamist groups far in the lead, as expected, with a coalition of the two main Kurdish parties second and a bloc led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi third.

After the Elections The Iraqi elections are over but who won? Randall Parker at Parapundit cites a number of sources who claim that Islamic extremism used the elections to seize power. Some continued supporters of the war in Iraq are thrilled that Americans are in Iraq because they think America is fighting for democracy. But what gets lost sight of is that democracy is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. Democracy does not automatically and reliably produce the sorts of outcomes that most Westerners envision when they think of a democratic society. Classically liberal...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi officials said Wednesday the announcement of final results from landmark national elections will be delayed because the election commission must recount votes from about 300 ballot boxes. Amid spiraling postelection violence, gunmen killed an Iraqi journalist working for a U.S.-funded television station and his 3-year-old son as they left their home Wednesday in the southern city of Basra, an official said. A Western legal expert, meanwhile, said trials for members of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s ousted regime will begin in several weeks before an Iraqi tribunal that could hand down sentences of death by...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A Kurdish ticket pulled into second place ahead of U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's candidates in Iraq's national election after votes were released Monday from the Kurdish self-governing area of the north. Insurgents struck Iraq's security forces with suicide bombs and mortar fire, killing more than 30 people. First election returns from the Sunni heartland confirmed on Monday that many Sunnis stayed away from ballot box, leaving the field to Shiite and Kurdish candidates. A Shiite-dominated ticket backed by the Shiite clergy leads among the 111 candidate lists, with a final tally of last week's election...

Election Complaints Emerge in Iraq Photo: AP Click to enlarge Some polling stations were shuttered. Others ran out of ballots. A provincial governor's name was left off the list of candidates. And some minorities complain it is all a plot to silence them. One week after Iraq's historic election, allegations of confusion, mismanagement or worse are surfacing, complicating the vote count and perhaps providing ammunition for politicians to question the entire process if they do not fare well in the final tally. It is too early to tell if the criticism can undermine the legitimacy of the incoming National Assembly....

President Bush never accepted the notion that Iraqis or other Arab or Muslim peoples are not "ready" for democracy. As a result millions of Iraqis (and Afghans) have now voted. The day after Iraqis went to the polls, the London Independent commented, "In the long term, it is possible that yesterday's elections in Iraq may be seen as marking the start of great change across the whole region." Needless to say, the editors hastened to add that it would be "utterly wrong, now or in the future, for President Bush or the prime minister to claim that Iraq's elections vindicate...

The following euphoria was brought to you by President George W. Bush. Remember the London Daily Mirror headline – "How Can 59,054,087 People Be So Dumb?" The New York Times, as recently as three weeks ago, predicted disaster for the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections: "The coming elections – long touted as the beginning of a new, democratic Iraq – are looking more and more like the beginning of that worst-case scenario. It's time to talk about postponing the elections."

In one of the grandest events in the history of the world, millions of Iraqis risked death on Sunday to vote in a free, democratic election. There were more than 100 attacks on polling stations by the "insurgents" (or "Islamic fascists," as authentic Americans call them). But the Iraqis voted – Shia, Sunnis, women and an estimated 2,000 dead felons in Washington state. Democrats haven't been this depressed since we captured Saddam Hussein.

Earlier this week, millions of Iraqis turned out to vote in the country’s first free election in over 50 years. They battled violence and intimidation to cast their ballots, determined to overcome terrorism and create self-government. Despite several terrorist attacks, mostly by suicide bombers, the Iraqis celebrated their freedom with fingers stained purple as proof of having cast a ballot. The incidents, fewer in number than had been feared, could not destroy the feeling of joy among the Iraqi people of being able to have a voice in the election. One man, a Sunni engineer and ex-soldier said of the...

Our Ninawa province correspondant reports 80 percent turnout in Mosul.Mosul witnessed an unexpected turnout after hours of hesitation. People were afraid that security forces would not be able to control armed attacks on voting centers and voters.A source at the Mosukl directorate said that the fact that a number of criminals were arrested the day before the elections had a positive impact on the electoral operation, which met with unexpected success.The reporter added that he expects a turnout of 80%, the registration period for voters in several voting centers having been extended 2 hours after the set time of 5PM....

Why are the Dems hanging themselves out there to be eaten alive? Check out part of Pelosi's speech: "We all know that the United States cannot stay in Iraq indefinitely and continue to be viewed as an occupying force," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, according to excerpts of the televised response she was to deliver after Bush's remarks. Nut-job Dennis Kucinich , who had less votes for president then he had for NewsJerks.com's "Jerk of the Month," claims the Iraqi elections were not legitimate. Other Democrats are also claiming the Iraqi elections were a farce. They want to overturn...

WASHINGTON -- In my seven visits to Iraq between 1973 and 1988, I never saw anyone smile. No, I am not exaggerating -- not ANYONE! The Iraqi faces seemed set in stone, without expression and without words: Stalin's dehumanized creatures on the deserts of the far Near East. Oh, a tiny, tight, treacherous smile slightly lighted the face of Saddam's top man, Tarik Aziz, once when I met with him in his ministry office in 1980. Speaking of the Iranians they had captured in the war with Iran, he said, "We had to hang most of them -- we're a...