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Exposing left-wing hypocrisy on Iraq is as easy as uttering three little words: "What about Reconstruction?" Despite the obvious success of Sunday's election, the anti-war left is sticking to its script, which says the election is illegitimate because it was conducted under American "occupation" and because the group most closely associated with the old ruling class (the Sunnis) did not fully participate. But precisely the same thing can be said about the American South during Reconstruction. Yet as the left calls the Iraq election a "sham" and a "farce," you would be hard pressed to find a liberal anywhere who...

The January 30th election has kept Iraq’s battered vehicle of political reconstruction on track, thanks largely to the decision of a clear majority of Iraqi voters to defy intimidation and cast their ballots. Difficult issues remain to be resolved before Iraqis can start to enjoy the benefits of having a stable, representative government. However, the very fact that the election went ahead means that a critical phase in this process has been accomplished. The final figures on the turnout and distribution of the votes will take some time to collate, but it is clear from initial soundings that the election...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Iraqis, notably in restive Sunni Arab areas, may have been denied their right to vote on Sunday because of insufficient ballots and polling centers, officials said. Iraq began compiling election results from around the country on Tuesday after a barrage of election day attacks by Sunni militants failed to deter millions from voting. But officials said many Iraqis arrived late to find ballot sheets had run out, possibly skewing results for the already disgruntled minority. Iraq's interim president Ghazi al-Yawar said extra ballots had to be supplied to Iraq's third city of Mosul,...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (Talon News) -- The jubilant mayor of this beleaguered city called for the construction of a monument to George W. Bush. The Democratic Party's standard-bearer in the 2004 presidential election questioned the legitimacy of Sunday's elections here. From the unbridled optimism of the president of the United States to the cynicism of his political opponents, voices were heard around the world on Monday as leaders and average citizens alike registered their opinions of Sunday's elections in Iraq. In a televised statement from the White House, President Bush called the elections "a resounding success" and added that the world...

Mosul (AsiaNews) – “We are no longer afraid after the elections,” says Fr Ragheed Ganni, a Catholic priest in Mosul, a northern Iraqi city that has been the scene of numerous guerrilla attacks. Two days after the historic January 30 election new attitudes are emerging. “In the city there was a great turnout,” Father Ganni said. “I saw people lining up in front of polling stations, excited.” However, in neighbouring villages, where lack of election material prevented people from voting, residents still want to cast their ballot.Speaking to AsiaNews by phone Father Ganni said: “There is a psychological shift...

Election officials in Iraq began on Tuesday a final tally of results from Iraq's Sunday elections, logging vote counts from individual precincts into computers in Baghdad.Officals said that partial results could be released by Tuesday night, but final results could take up to 10 days.Iraqi polling stations on Monday finished Phase One of counting ballots at all 5,200 stations nationwide.Local stations are now preparing to send tally sheets and ballots to the Iraqi capital, where election officials will compile vote totals, election commission official Adel al-Lami said. Nearly 200 clerks were working around the clock to log the results at...

For the last two years, "democracy" has been a bad word in Iraq. The daily car bombings, rocket attacks, assassinations and kidnappings took control of Iraqis' lives in a way that Saddam Hussein never did. Shi'ites and Sunnis alike asked themselves and reporters, "Who needs this?" Often the words would be said as if spitting, or followed up with a curse. "This is democracy?" a taxi driver would ask, his face screwed up as he maneuvered his way past the cars driving onto the highway by way of the exit ramp. Like the traffic in Iraq, which ceased to have...

You'd have to be pretty hardhearted not to be moved by the courage of the millions of Iraqis who insisted on turning out to vote yesterday despite the very real threat that they would be walking into mayhem and violent death at the polls. At polling stations across the country there were women in veils holding the hands of children, and men on crutches, and people who had been maimed during the terrible years of Saddam, and old people. Among those lined up to vote in Baghdad was Samir Hassan, a 32-year-old man who lost a leg in the blast...

​​​​GURAT, France, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The Greek term "martyr," meaning witness, has always had a noble ring until it was usurped by contemporary criminal maniacs killing themselves and thousands of innocent people. Iraq's election Sunday has returned nobility to martyrdom - no thanks to suicide bombers themselves in their relentless war of terror against chiefly women and children, but because of those millions of voters who braved death to bring about a better life for themselves, their neighbors and children. And martyrs - witnesses -- they were indeed, leaving their homes despite threats from terrorists that Iraq's streets would...

Iraq is now busy counting ballots. Election day was nowhere near as bloody as Al-Zarqawi had said it would be. No doubt there were many who stayed at home out of fear but fortunately, there were many more who wanted their voices heard and so they voted. How many actually voted will not be known for several days, but indications are that the turnout has been relatively high — even in areas where it was feared there might be boycotts. So many conditions for a free and democratic election are lacking in present-day Iraq which is why many have been...

The vote in Iraq is a vital first step to freedom The day-after euphoria of many Iraqis and the relief, surprise and admiration of the outside world at the resounding success of Iraq’s first democratic elections in half a century are the latest astonishing testimony to the power of democracy. In Indonesia, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, voters have turned out in their millions to prove wrong those cynics who insisted that any ballot would be unrepresentative, irrelevant or merely a prelude to further conflict. The support of Washington for these first steps in empowering millions with the basic rights...

The West can't yet declare "mission accomplished" in Iraq, writes Tim Colebatch. In the Democracy Open, Iraq has won its first-round match. In 80 per cent of the country, at least, people defied the gunmen and went out to vote in this weirdest of elections. You can't but feel for those Iraqis for whom voting in a free election was a thing of joy, something they could not dream of when they were under the thumb of Saddam Hussein. Even if the voters had no idea who the candidates were, or what their policies were, this was a liberating experience....

Sunday's election was a testament to the courage of Iraqis,says Gerard Henderson. On Sunday the real resistance in Iraq revealed itself, namely the resistance of courageous Iraqis to the prevailing terror of Saddam Hussein loyalists and the al-Qaeda-aligned forces led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In spite of attacks on electoral officials, voting places, candidates and electors, a surprisingly large number of Iraqis went to the polling booths to exercise a new-found right. It is too early to judge the extent of the success of the election but it does appear to have been successful - measured in terms of...

President George Bush has pronounced the election in Iraq a success. "The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the centre of the Middle East," he said yesterday. Since this is more or less what he was bound to say anyway, the only surprise is that he waited until four hours after the polls had closed before saying it. It's a curious sort of freedom where candidates cannot campaign openly for fear of their lives and where, despite the tightest security that the occupation armies and the Iraqi forces can provide - curfews, banning cars from the streets, intensive...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- The al-Qaida-linked militant group led by terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said Monday that Iraq's election would not stop its campaign of violence, vowing to step up its holy war. ``Your brothers in the al-Qaida organization ... will continue the jihad (holy war) until the banner of (Islamic) unity flutters over Iraq,'' the group said in a statement posted on the Internet. ``These elections and their results will not affect us in the al-Qaida in Iraq but will increase our strength and intention to getting rid of injustice,'' it said. The statement addressed President Bush and...

A convoy of Bradley fighting vehicles, my unit's main combat power, along with a group of Iraqi National Guard (ING) and Iraqi Police (IP) vehicles escorted the blank ballots to the polling site in our little town. That was far from the first step taken to prepare ourselves for this day; really, everything we have done in Iraq has been in some measure to prepare for this day. On January 30, 2005, Iraq had an election to establish their first governing body. From way out there, it might seem a small thing, but from here, it is something a little...

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev called the Iraqi parliamentary elections a profanation. In an interview with the Interfax news agency, he said the elections are “very far from what true elections are. And even though I am a supporter of elections and of the transfer of power to the people of Iraq, these elections were fake.” “I don’t think these elections will be of any use. They may even have a negative impact on the country. Democracy cannot be imposed or strengthened with guns and tanks,” the agency quoted Gorbachev as saying. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it respected...

IRAQ: Terrorists Fail to Interfere With Voting January 31, 2005: On election day, there were about half a dozen terrorist attacks, killing 44 people and wounding over a hundred. Despite that, over eight million Iraqis went to vote. The atmosphere across the country was one of triumph, with people proudly displaying their ink stained fingers (so marked to prevent people from voting twice). In Tikrit, Saddam’s home town, former Baath Party officials, and relatives of Saddam, were seen voting. In only a handful of polling places were the terrorists successful in preventing people from voting. It will take 7-10 days...

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine: High Turnout, Hardly Violent Today’s elections in Iraq may have been a success, with millions of Iraqis turning out to vote and only scattered violence, but you would have a hard time knowing it from earlier reports in some foreign media. Reuters reported, "Iraqis trickled to polls amid insurgent attacks," saying later, "Iraqi vote bloodied by attacks." The Australian newspaper The Age said, "Iraqi attacks deterred voters." The Pakistani newspaper The Dawn said, "Violence rages on as Iraqis go to polls today." And Al-Jazeera (search) reported, "Attacks plague Iraqi election day," adding...

The good news is that two of my favorite writers were wrong. Or, to speak more broadly, the good news is that two ideas they represented and popularized are proving to be wrong. Idea number one: Just weeks after 9/11, Fareed Zakaria wrote an essay in Newsweek explaining that Francis Fukuyama's notion that we had reached the "end of history" was proven wrong by those horrific attacks. I don't want to get lost in the weeds on what Fukuyama was getting at when he said we'd reached "the end of history," but Fukuyama's basic point was that liberal democracy...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim leader called on his countrymen to set aside their differences Monday, while polling stations finished the first-phase count of millions of ballots from the weekend election that many Iraqis hope will usher in democracy and hasten the departure of 150,000 American troops. From the counts by individual stations, local centers will prepare tally sheets and send them to Baghdad, where vote totals will be compiled, election Commission official Adel al-Lami said. Final results could take up to 10 days. With turnout in the vote still unknown, concern was focused on participation...

The liberation of Iraq—a long, heroic quest that could not be stopped by liberal losers and nadiric naysayers, became a bona fide reality yesterday, and I couldn’t be more thrilled unless I were an Iraqi. Sunday was a great day for Iraq and a great day for America. People who think otherwise need to go back into their holes and eat worms. The rest of us can stay above ground where the sun shines brightly on freedom. The press was largely silent when this happened in Afghanistan. Those of us who cared followed the story anyway. We remember well the...

BERLIN -- The presidents of France and Russia, top opponents of U.S. policy in Iraq, joined world leaders Monday in praising this weekend's landmark Iraqi elections as a success of democracy over terrorism, but the welcome was tempered by concern that Sunni Arabs be included in a future government. French President Jacques Chirac spoke with President Bush by telephone, saying he was satisfied by the "participation rate and the good technical organization." "These elections mark an important step in the political reconstruction of Iraq. The strategy of terrorist groups has partly failed," Chirac said, according to a French presidential spokesman....

The new era in Iraq finally began to dawn with a massive voter turnout in Sunday’s election and some bloody incidents. Criminal terrorists tried to sabotage the election by carrying out attacks on polling stations, but the determined Iraqi people braved the threats of the gunmen. After enduring eight decades of dictatorship and crime, the Iraqi nation has taken the first steps on the path toward a bright future and democracy -- a new phenomenon in Arab world. The Iraqi people have experienced great suffering due to dictatorships, geopolitical conditions, and demography. And, unfortunately, some neighboring Arab countries played a...

WASHINGTON – While there were no exit polls taken in yesterday's Iraqi election, face-to-face interviews conducted with a cross-section of nearly 2,000 citizens three weeks ago show most voters upbeat about the direction of the country and optimistic about their ability to govern themselves, reports a survey obtained by Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. The scientific survey, conducted by the International Republican Institute, showed nearly 49 percent of the Iraqi public believes the country is generally headed in the right direction. Only 39 percent believe it is generally moving in the wrong direction – and nearly 60 percent of those cite...

Today is a great day. I watched the live reports from Iraq with a sense of awe and a profound sense of relief. The images of the Iraqi people dancing in the streets holding up their blue inked fingers brought tears to my eyes. Watching videos of Iraqi women lining up to cast their vote made my heart soar. I enjoyed watching all the reports from reporters displaying a genuine respect for the people that braved the terrorists' threats of violence to let their voices be heard. I even enjoyed watching Geraldo. Despite all of the joy and celebrations, I...

The Bush administration, buoyed by early indications of a higher than expected turnout and lower than expected level of violence, is seeing Sunday's election as a long-sought vindication of its Iraq policy, especially its determination to press ahead with the vote in the face of widespread skepticism about its outcome. Administration officials also believe the election has given fresh impetus to President Bush's stated goal of spreading democracy in the Arab world. "The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East," said Bush, who spoke by phone Sunday to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ As the sun went down over downtown Baghdad on election day, with children kicking soccer balls down the street and Iraqi police offering American soldiers plates of rice and lamb, the company of Louisiana National Guardsmen who had spent the day securing a polling place started to realize the historical magnitude of what they'd just witnessed.

The Iraqi elections have me thinking about the words of our old friend, Micheal Moore. He said that the insurgetns were not "terrorists" rather that the were "minute men" and that "they would win".

DEMOCRACY won in a landslide yesterday here in Sadr City, the epicenter of Iraqi politics. Iraq's Shiites outnumber its Sunni Arabs by five to one, and when they rise up, this Baghdad slum is where they do it. Yesterday they rose up again, but this time it was with ballots, not with guns. Mortar shells rained down on the ghetto at the beginning and end of the voting day, sporadic gunfire rattled through the smog, and at least one car bomb rounded out the predictable symphony of violence. But inside the Martyr Primary School, which was transformed for a day...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - 0130iraqvote Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers Sunday, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they couldn't walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century. "We broke a barrier of fear," said Mijm Towirish, an election official. Uncertain Sunni turnout, a string of insurgent attacks that killed 44 and the crash of a British military plane drove home that chaos in Iraq isn't over yet. Yet the mere fact the...

China's state media expressed pessimism over the "violence-tarnished polls" in Iraq, saying the situation remained "grim" and Washington must set a timetable to withdraw its troops. The state-run China Daily, often used by the government to get its view across, said that despite a large turnout "the current situation is far from optimistic". "There is no sign that Washington is capable of guaranteeing the development of the post-election Iraqi situation in the direction drawn by itself," it said in an opinion. "While the vote may mark a new era in Iraq, it could also provoke a backlash, deepen sectarian divisions...

Messages of support poured in from around the world today as Iraqis voted in a landmark election hailed by both supporters and opponents of the US-led war as a key step towards restoring Iraqi sovereignty. US President George W Bush called the vote a resounding success. "There's more distance to travel on the road to democracy, yet Iraqis are proving they are equal to the challenge," Bush said at the White House 22 months after US-led forces invaded Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein. "Today the people of Iraq have spoken to the world, and the world is hearing the voice...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers Sunday, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they couldn't walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq (news - web sites)'s first free election in a half-century. Iraqi election officials said it might take 10 days to determine the vote's winner and said they had no firm estimate of turnout among the 14 million eligible voters. The ticket endorsed by the Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani was the pre-voting favorite....

BAGHDAD -- Housewife Alaa Abed Mehdi had no intention of risking her life to vote Sunday. Early morning explosions only strengthened that resolve. Then Mehdi, 27, looked out her window and saw history passing by -- in groups of twos and threes. Braving threats of suicide attacks and mortar strikes, scores of Iraqis outside Mehdi's house -- many dressed up in their best suits and dresses -- filed by in a quiet procession toward the heavily guarded polling center down the street. "It was an amazing scene," Mehdi said. "I never expected to see such a sight. It made me...

Voters don Sunday best to defy violence Queues form as residents play down reprisals Rory McCarthy in Baghdad Monday January 31, 2005 The Guardian Not long after dawn broke over Baghdad the explosions began: volleys of mortars and desperate suicide bombers and once again blood ran into the soil. But by then it was too late. Many Iraqis were already on the streets, walking to vote. Raad Abdullah shrugged his shoulders at the sound of another blast and led his wife and son past a coil of razor wire as they went to join the queue to enter the polling...

30 JAN 05 I watched and read today the perceptions around the world unfold during this historic day which included: Aljazeera, Al Arabia, Le Monde, BBC World Service, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, FNC, C-SPAN As usual C-SPAN distinguishes itself in thoughtful discourse that included commentary from Iraqi nationals, Christopher Hitchens, and callers from Iraq. After watching two hours of C-SPAN coverage, which included valid criticisms of the US Media, I felt renewed optimism in the future of the world vis-à-vis the Middle East and renewed cynicism toward the media. Later, though, I was shocked to view Peter Jenning's ending commentary to...

While we slept last night, over eight million people cast ballots for the first time in a free Iraq. Here are some casual observations regarding the history that we witnessed. 1) The insurgency will strike again but any remaining support that it has is quickly dwindling. The terrorists have failed to win the hearts and minds of the people. Unlike the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) in Vietnam, they have been unable to win the support of the villagers. I could point to many reasons for this but the primary reason is that the average Iraqi citizen sees their life...

The news from Iraq is spectacularly good: local authorities estimate almost 75 percent of the electorate has voted. This is a triumph for every Iraqi, for America, for the Muslim world -- indeed, for the whole world. But it is a particular victory for an exceedingly small group in Washington: those who maintained confidence in the appeal of democracy, in the commonsense and intelligence of the Iraqis, and in the correctness of the path taken by President George W. Bush to Baghdad and beyond. As stated, the group of non-Iraqis in America entitled to exult is tiny: it consists of...

BAGHDAD -- Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers Sunday, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they couldn't walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century. "We broke a barrier of fear," said Mijm Towirish, an election official. Uncertain Sunni turnout, a string of insurgent attacks that killed 44 and the crash of a British military plane drove home that chaos in Iraq isn't over yet. Yet the mere fact the vote went off...

Shakhwan Hama Aula was undaunted by security concerns. "I don't care much for the threats, and I feel that the building of democracy requires sacrifice," Aula said. ---------- Abdul Zahra Rajihi, 50, a physician, said it didn't matter which slate of candidates he voted for -- only that he voted. "This is the new dawn of the new Iraq with all its people and sects," he said. "When we decided to come, we weren't hesitant because this is a chance and if the people hesitate, they will lose it and might not get it again." ---------- Arkan Mahmoud Jawad came...

AMMAN, Jordan, Jan. 30 - Sometime after the first insurgent attack in Iraq this morning, news directors at Arab satellite channels and newspaper editors found themselves facing an altogether new decision: should they report on the violence, or continue to cover the elections themselves? After close to two years of providing up-to-the-minute images of explosions and mayhem, and despite months of predictions of a bloodbath on election day, some news directors said they found the decision surprisingly easy to make. The violence simply was not the story this morning; the voting was. Overwhelmingly, Arab channels and newspapers greeted the elections...

2005-01-30) -- News reports of terrorist bombings in Iraq were marred Sunday by shocking graphic images of Iraqi "insurgents" voting by the millions in their first free democratic election. Despite reporters' hopes that a well-orchestrated barrage of mortar attacks and suicide bombings would put down the so-called 'freedom insurgency', hastily-formed battalions of rebels swarmed polling places to cast their ballots -- shattering the status quo and striking fear into the hearts of the leaders of the existing terror regime. Hopes for a return to the stability of tyranny waned as rank upon rank of Iraqi men and women filed out...

Sunday, January 30, 2005 - The thugs who once ruled Iraq, and the radical Islamists who now terrorize it, have spent the weeks leading up to today's election distributing helpful leaflets. "We vow to wash the streets of Baghdad with the voters' blood" reads one. Another: "To those of you who think you can vote and then run away, we will shadow you and catch you, and we will cut off your heads and the heads of your children." Coming from a group that's spent the last two years slaughtering foreigners and Iraqis alike, such threats aren't to be taken...

Millions of Iraqis had been warned that if they went to polling stations yesterday, their “blood would wash the streets”. They voted anyway. In Baghdad, one terror group boasted of having 400 volunteers for suicide bombing missions. Yet turnout in the capital was far higher than expected. Everyone knew the price of voting would be an ink-blackened forefinger that would prevent them voting twice — but could also have invited an assassin’s bullet. It was a price they paid. The great question to be answered by Iraq’s first free election in half a century was not who won but how...

The brave voters of Iraq defied the terrorists — and proved the doom-mongers wrong AS IRAQIS voted in their first truly free election, they may have noticed a slogan on some walls in Baghdad and parts of the Sunni Triangle: Min al-sanduq il-al-sanduq. Its literal translation is “from the box into the box”. But the message is starker: “From the ballot box to the coffin.” Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of the jihadists in Iraq, issued a statement before polling day threatening: “We shall kill anyone associated with elections: candidates, monitors, and voters.” The tone of those who opposed...

SHIITE spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani today congratulated Iraqis on turning out to vote and expressed regret he had been unable to take part himself because of his Iranian nationality. The reclusive cleric, who rarely ventures from his home in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, relayed his message through his representative in the nearby shrine city of Karbala. "Grand Ayatollah Sistani thanks the Iraqi people for going to vote," said Ayatollah Ahmed al-Safi. "(He) has not headed to the polling centre himself because he does not have the right to vote." Advertisement: The cleric shepherded Iraq on the...

BAGHDAD -- The three women in black robes were walking to a polling station when a huge explosion shook the ground. They kept on going, calling out in unison: "We have no fear!" Young and old, male and female, hobbling with canes, hanging on the backs of friends and even wheeled in an office chair, Iraqis chose to go to the polls Sunday, embracing democracy in defiance of an insurgent threat "to wash the streets of Baghdad with the blood of voters." Shiites and Kurds in the ethnically diverse country voted in big numbers and did not conceal their joy....

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 30 - Batool Al Musawi hesitated for a single moment. The explosions had already begun as she rose from her bed early today. One after the other, the mortar shells were falling and bursting around the city, rattling the windows and shaking the walls. For an instant, Ms. Musawi, a 22-year-old physical therapist, thought it might be too dangerous to go to the polls. "And then, hearing those explosions, it occurred to me - the insurgents are weak, they afraid of democracy, they are losing," Ms. Musawi said, standing in the Marajayoon Primary School, her polling place....

TWO of the suicide bombers who staged attacks in Baghdad during the Iraqi election were Syrian and Chechen, an interior ministry source said today. The source also said some attackers had been detained during the day. "We have arrested some people, but I cannot give figures or nationalities." Several suicide bomb attacks, most by individuals who carried belts packed with explosives toward polling stations and other targets, were carried out during the election. The group of Iraq's al-Qaeda frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed overnight it had carried out 13 suicide attacks to "spoil the party". The Internet statement could not...