Iraqis Defy Attackers in Historic Election
 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp.../iraq_the_vote

By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis danced and clapped with joy Sunday as they voted in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched eight suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations. The attacks killed at least 36 people.

An Iraqi election official said that 72 percent of eligible Iraqi voters had turned out so far nationwide. The official, Adel al-Lami of the Independent Electoral Commission, offered no overall figures of the actual number of Iraqis who have voted to back up the claim.

After a slow start, men and women in flowing black abayas — often holding babies — formed long lines, although there were pockets of Iraq where the streets and polling stations were deserted. Iraqis prohibited from using private cars walked streets crowded in a few places nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with voters, hitched rides on military buses and trucks, and some even carried the elderly in their arms.

"This is democracy," said Karfia Abbasi, holding up a thumb stained with purple ink to prove she had voted.

Officials said turnout appeared higher than expected, although it was too soon to tell for sure. Iraqi officials have predicted that up to 8 million of the 14 million voters — just over 57 percent — would participate.

In a potentially troublesome sign, the polls at first were deserted in mostly Sunni cities like Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra around Baghdad, and in the restive, heavily Sunni northern city of Mosul.

Clashes had erupted between insurgents and Iraqi soldiers in western Mosul. And in Baghdad's mainly Sunni Arab area of Azamiyah, the neighborhood's four polling centers did not open, residents said.

A low Sunni turnout could undermine the new government and worsen tensions among the country's ethnic, religious and cultural groups.

A Web site statement purportedly from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for election-day attacks in Iraq, although the claim could not be verified. The Jordanian militant is said to be behind many of the suicide car-bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners in Iraq, and his group vowed to kill those who ventured out to vote.

Casting his vote, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called it "the first time the Iraqis will determine their destiny."

Turnout was brisk in Shiite Muslim and mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods. Even in the small town of Askan in the so-called "triangle of death" south of Baghdad, 20 people waited in line at each of several polling centers. More walked toward the polls.

Rumors of impending violence were rife. When an unexplained boom sounded near one Baghdad voting station, some women put their hands to their mouths and whispered prayers. Others continued walking calmly to the voting stations. Several shouted in unison: "We have no fear."

"Am I scared? Of course I'm not scared. This is my country," said 50-year-old Fathiya Mohammed, wearing a head-to-toe abaya.

At one polling place in Baghdad, soldiers and voters joined hands in a dance, and in Baqouba, voters jumped and clapped to celebrate the historic day. At another, an Iraqi policeman in a black ski mask tucked his assault rifle under one arm and took the hand of an elderly blind woman, guiding her to the polls.

In Ramadi, U.S. troops coaxed voters with loudspeakers, preaching the importance of every ballot.

The election is a major test of President Bush's goal of promoting democracy in the Middle East. If successful, it also could hasten the day when the United States brings home its 150,000 troops. More than 1,400 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, including a U.S. Marine killed in combat Sunday in Iraq's restive Anbar province. No details were released on the latest death.

Security was tight. About 300,000 Iraqi and American troops were on the streets and on standby to protect voters, who entered polling stations under loops of razor wire and the watchful eye of rooftop sharpshooters.

Private cars were mostly banned from the streets, forcing suicide bombers to strap explosives to their bodies and carry out attacks on foot.

The governor of the mostly Sunni province of Salaheddin, Hamad Hmoud Shagti, went on the radio to lobby for a higher turnout. "This is a chance for you as Iraqis to assure your and your children's future," he said.

Shiite Muslims, estimated at 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people, were expected to turn out in large numbers, encouraged by clerics who hope their community will gain power after generations of oppression by the Sunni minority.

A ticket endorsed by the country's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is expected to fare best among the 111 candidate lists. However, no faction is expected to win an outright majority, meaning possibly weeks of political deal-making before a new prime minister is chosen.

The elections will also give Kurds a chance to gain more influence in Iraq after long years of marginalization under the Baath Party that ruled the country for 34 years.

"This proves that we are now free," said Akar Azad, 19, who came to the polls with his wife Serwin Suker and sister Bigat.

Iraqis in 14 nations also held the last of three days of overseas balloting on Sunday, with officials in Australia extending polling station hours because of an earlier riot and bomb scare. More than 70 percent of the 281,000 registered overseas voters had cast a ballot, al-Lami of the Independent Electoral Commission said.

Speaking in Nigeria, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Sunday's balloting "the first step" toward democracy. "It's a beginning, not an end," he said.

Final results of the election will not be known for seven to 10 days, but a preliminary tally could come as early as late Sunday.

One U.S.-funded election observer said early reports pointed to smoother-than-expected voting, despite the violence.

"We're hearing there has been fairly robust turnout in certain areas," said Sam Patten, a member of the Baghdad team of the International Republican Institute.

The chief U.N. adviser to Iraq's election commission, Carlos Valenzuela, also said turnout seemed to be good in most places.

"These attacks have not stopped the operations," Valenzuela said.

Asked if reports of better-than-expected turnout in areas where Sunni and Shiite Muslims live together indicated that a Sunni cleric boycott effort had failed, one of the main groups pushing the boycott seemed to soften its stance.

"The association's call for a boycott of the election was not a fatwa (religious edict), but only a statement," said Association of Muslim Scholars spokesman Omar Ragheb. "It was never a question of something religiously prohibited or permitted."

In the most deadly attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a polling station in western Baghdad, killing himself, three policemen and a civilian, officials said. Witness Faleh Hussein said the bomber approached a line of voters and detonated an explosives belt.

In a second suicide attack at a polling station, a bomber blew up himself, one policeman and two Iraqi soldiers. In a third suicide attack at a school in western Baghdad, three people and the bomber died, police said.

And in a fourth, at another school in eastern Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed himself and at least three others. Another five people died in other suicide attacks.

Also, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the home of Iraq's justice minister in western Baghdad in an apparent assassination attempt. The minister was not home but the attack killed one person, an Interior Ministry official said.

The rest were killed in shootings and explosions in several communities north of Baghdad.

Overall, eight of the 36 people killed were suicide bombers.

In addition, three people were killed when mortars landed near a polling station in Sadr City, the heart of Baghdad's Shiite Muslim community. Two others died when a mortar round hit a home in Amel, and a policeman died in a mortar attack on a polling station in Khan al-Mahawil, south of Baghdad.

In Mosul, the province's deputy escaped an assassination attempt, but his bodyguard was killed.

Good first step toward democracy. The work is not done yet, far from it.

No, its not. The deaths that occurred today are tragic, but its also far less than what I feared.

The interviews that I'm seeing today are anecdotal evidence that Iraqis are taking control of their country. I believe that this means that the day will soon come when they ask the U.S. to leave, and the day will come even sooner when they purge themselves of foreign terrorists.

I think that there will be an upsurge in violence over the next few months, but then it will continually decline.

The Iraqis now have a busy year ahead. They need to write their own constitution, and hold another set of elections.

I'm optimistic.

I meant, the election is a good step toward democracy. What is happening today is far from democracy. However, democracy is a destination and the election is a voyage.

I'm also optimistic that democracy will come to Iraq in 4 to 5 years.

High Voter Turnout
 

CNN is reporting 72% nationwide.

Wow.

I can already tell you the winner of the election: America.

As soon as the Iraqis have their own government set up, the insurgent attacks will be seen as attacks on the people and their own legitimate government, not on the US occupation or a "puppet government". And perhaps that means Iraqis will back their military and police will work harder and won't be picked off as quick as they join up.

I can only wonder how many lives may have been saved if the US had let the Iraqis have elections earlier.And this frees us up a bit to find those WMD that are our reason for being in there.

That's an interesting perspective because most of the World thinks that today's elections should have been delayed.

Someone's bitter about the Middle East lately...:confused:

One thing that got me thinking, does the 72% represent eligeble voters or registered voters?

Nevermind, found the answer in the article.

That all depends on the outcome now doesn't it?

I for one am hoping that the foreign polling stations do not reflect the voting trends of Iraq... because at least here in Canada the advance polls have shown a disturbing trend of voting either for a Communist (Stalinist not Marxist) Party or a Fundamental Islamic Party (think 80s Iran)... been watching both the official and un-official sources to try and understand this trend - the concensus amongst those I've talked to is that these particular ex-pats fled Saddam, because of their political beliefs; now they have a chance to exercise those political beliefs and they are... of course the Communist/Stalinist thing is confusing, since that's basically what Saddam was (more or less).

Has anybody else seen any indication of voting trends?

ITs only a legitimate government if they can turn around and tell us to leave and we do.

How likely is that?

Did you even read the rest of his post before you made that comment?
If not here it is:
"As soon as the Iraqis have their own government set up, the insurgent attacks will be seen as attacks on the people and their own legitimate government, not on the US occupation or a "puppet government". And perhaps that means Iraqis will back their military and police will work harder and won't be picked off as quick as they join up."

While the US won't be able to leave immediately, this is a step in the right direction for the Iraqi population. I'm glad to hear and see that they were not deterred in going out to vote in a large part of the country.

Very. If we have to stay there, then we failed. The sooner that a stable democratic Iraqi government can ask us to leave, the sooner that we can claim victory.

Arabs Mesmerized by Iraqi Elections
 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...n_mideast_view

By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A young man smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee in a Saudi cafe worries that Iraq's elections could lead to civil war. On the banks of the Nile, a student strolling with his girlfriend dismisses the polls as a sham meant to place a pro-American government in Iraq. Yemenis, chewing their mildly stimulating khat leaves, express hope the United States will pressure other tyrannical regimes to change.

The Arab world is anything but indifferent to Sunday's polling in Iraq, which has dual implications for the restive region. It will almost certainly bring to power Iraq's long-suppressed Shiite Muslims, boosting the sect's influence in this Sunni Muslim-dominated area. It also will mean Washington has succeeded in bringing democracy to Iraq by force — at least for the moment — a precedent that could shake up the autocratic Arab world.

"Arab governments may not say it, but they don't want Iraq's democratic experiment to succeed," said Turki al-Hamad, a prominent Saudi columnist and former political science professor. "Such a success would embarrass them and present them with the dilemma of either changing or being changed."

Arabs were of mixed feelings about the poll. Many said U.S. involvement reinforced their distrust.

"This election is an American movie made to convince Iraqis to go to the polls so that the United States will stay in Iraq and control its oil," said Jordanian Mohammed Fakhri, 28, owner of a mobile phones shop. "There will be ... a government with Iraqi stooges serving U.S. and Israeli interests."

A veiled Egyptian flower vendor who gave her name only as Um Abdel Rahman dismissed the poll as "a sedative for the people. Democracy is just a decoration."

Wouldn't she like to participate in free elections? "Women speak their minds all the time. I don't need to vote," she said.

However others hoped the poll would be a catalyst for a region-wide democratic push.

The elections are a "good omen for getting rid of dictatorship," Yemeni political science student Fathi al-Uraiqi said, chewing khat with friends. "But I hope America is not driven by its own interests but by a genuine desire to spread democracy in the rest of the region."

Mohammed al-Omran, a 21-year-old Saudi coffee shop manager, said the Shiites should be fair if they want to prevent the situation in Iraq from dissolving into civil war or partition.

"Saddam Hussein was hated because he persecuted (the Shiites). They should not do the same," he said, as he sipped coffee and smoked cigarettes.

Interest was high among Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, who have long complained of discrimination.

"People are glued to their TV screens" in al-Qatif and Ihsaa, Shiite-dominated towns in the oil-rich Eastern Province, said Muhammad Mahfouz, a Shiite editor of a cultural magazine.

Clergymen used special services Saturday for Ghadeer Day, which marked the Prophet Muhammad's nomination of his son-in-law Ali as his successor, to pray for smooth and safe elections, he said.

Some of Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors have expressed fears a Shiite-dominated government in Iraq could join with Iran to form a Shiite crescent, threatening traditional Sunni dominance of the region and inspiring potential political claims by other Shiites.

Al-Hamad, who lives in the Eastern Province, said Saudi Arabia will only fear a Shiite government in Iraq if it allies itself with Iran, which had called for exporting its 1979 Islamic Revolution beyond its borders.

A Shiite government in Iraq will not inspire unrest among the kingdom's Shiites, he said.

"They are not demanding self-rule or an alliance with Iran. They just want rights that citizens in any country expect," he said. "A Shiite government in Iraq will give them the confidence to lobby more persistently for those rights."

Arab intellectuals, politicians and writers differed over whether the elections would provide a good example for democratic reform in a region in which free and fair elections are rare and human rights groups operate with difficulty.

Arab League spokesman Hossam Zaki said the election was a step forward, but added that Iraq, with its unstable security situation, was a "model to be avoided."

Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt said the polls can only be judged after the results come out. But so far they've proven "a bizarre model," with candidates campaigning furtively for fear of insurgent attacks and Sunni Muslims boycotting the process.

Writing in Beirut's Al-Anwar newspaper, political analyst Rafik Khoury said Arab governments who have criticized shortcomings of Iraq's elections, demanding that they be "honest and transparent ... themselves ban such elections for their own peoples."

"If the future promised by the elections appears confusing, are the Iraqis supposed to bet on the future that the executioners promise them?" he said, refering to insurgents.

The Egyptian student, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, openly spoke about not trusting U.S. intentions in Iraq, saying the new Iraqi ruler "will be a follower of America."

But when asked if democracy can grow in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) is widely expected to seek a fifth term in power, the 20-year-old looked over his shoulder and said:

"Let's talk about Iraq. Let's stay away from talking about Egypt."

--------------------------------------------------

And there you have it. Today's voting in Iraq has geopolitical ramifications.

what I really meant, is that its only legitimate if it can tell us to leave against our will . . . and we do.

I agree with that. Further more, I believe that this has to happen.

Even the though the DoD would love to have semi-permanent bases in Iraq, I believe that we should not persue this because it will create a perception that will validate many conspiracy theories in that region. I believe that we'll just have to content with our mega-base in Qatar.

Think the party that has run everything from 1979 until now. It wasn't just in the 80's.

But yes, I have no doubt that many people will want a religious government on par with Iran. I have no doubt that Iran is heavily supporting Shiites in Iraq. However, nobody seems to get that no matter the religion and no matter the fact that they are Shiite, Iranians are not Arabs.

Anyway, the voting took place today. Maybe in 5 years the Democracy will be more stable. And maybe in 30 years the population will have enough of a decent education to reject certain leaders.

-Rudey
--It's a mix of good and bad...nothing more.

I hope nobody think that this is it. This is far from it. This is step number one in over one hundred steps.

Like I've said, Iraq is, at best, 5 years from being a true democracy. This is a positive first step. However, this is not the end. Anybody that think that it's over is foolish. The hard work no begin.

I think a lot of people think Rome was built in a day. Really, how long did it take for true Democracy to come to America even? How did the blood shed from the French Revolution shape their government of today, ya know?

-Rudey

You'll be suprise how many people think that the job is done.

Why not? Everyone decided to forget about Afghanistan, so maybe this will turn into the same thing.

Samir Hassan, 32, who lost his leg in a car bomb blast last year, said as he waited to vote in Baghdad: "I would have crawled here if I had to. I don't want terrorists to kill other Iraqis like they tried to kill me."


This is my favorite quote about the election. It's just one person voting. We know nothing about him except that he was determined to vote.

I think we all forget these are real people on the ground. Every day they have bombs explode and live through threats, and here they are...so determined to vote.

-Rudey

Yea, and did you read his comments in all his posts besides this thread? I love it when people that don't take their own advice....:cool:

Its not that "this is it," but neither will there be "over one hundred steps," unless you're counting every minor step taken. I see this as having the same potential as the fall of the Berlin Wall. The nations that were freed are still not fully established democratically or economically, but no one would dispute that what happened almost 16 years was a major change on the world stage.

I believe that Arabs in other nations are watching today's events. They will also watch the struggles that Iraq will face in coming months and years, and they will say "my nation also deserves democracy."

The European Renaisance will finally coming home to Arabia.

I've read his posts before...and he wasn't being snarky in that one. We aren't talking about every thread ever made in this one, are we? I take my own advice thanks.:rolleyes:

The WMD drop-in (non sequitur?) wasn't snarky?

Regardless - this is not the end, but it certainly could be the beginning. Arya, you're completely right, but the next steps can't come until this first one. It's impressive.

Nope sorry not happening.

You don't think Arabs want democracy?

True - and hopefully there aren't people that think of this as an end to all of the work. There's still much to do, but this is a great first step.

You might want to back up your flippant statement.

It is happening.

Its in the news. You can read about in the finest newspapers, like the New York Times. You can read about it on well respected foreign web sites like the BBC's.

Best of all, you can read about on Al Jazeera's web site, and the presence of such stories says more than the articles do.

What really surprised me is a poll on Al Jazeera's web site. These polls, while unscientific, usually reflect an outlook that is completely opposed to that of the Bush Administration's. This one asks, "Do you trust the outcome of Iraq’s elections, being held amidst the ongoing violence?" 62% have responded, "yes."

Here are some articles from today's Al Jazeera:

Iraqis await elections results in anticipation

What do the Iraqi elections hold for Syria?

Mubarak hints at 5th term, rejects calls for open vote

Arabs are watching and reading. They will soon start demanding democracy through out the Middle East. Yesterday's Iraqi elections will be to the Middle East what the Fall of the Berlin Wall was to Eastern Europe.

Thanks for that report from the Green Zone - care to elaborate for me, though? Seriously.

God I hope this works for them.

Can't you ever just be happy that good things are happening?

Your attempts to find something bad in this situation appear very desperate.

HA!HA!HA!:rolleyes:

All I meant by that statement is that this isnt the domino effect that you may think. This isnt as grand of an event as the Berlin wall falling sorry but I dont see 7th graders reading about the Iraqi elections in this World History classes in 10 yrs. The only way you're going to get "democracy" in other Arab countries is to do what the US did with Iraq - attack. Despite the elections, Al Queda still threatens to attack and Iraq is still under the constant threat of terrorism. Perhaps if and when the elections prove to be a success you can claim the rest of the Arab world will want to be in the same position as Iraq.

A high voter turnout isn't an indication of the people's want for "democracy" or a successful election. Millions of voters turned out for elections under Saddam Hussein too. During those elections, there were pictures of "joyous" Iraqis at the polls then as well. There are a lot of Iraqis who aren't celebrating and who aren't happy. They don't even have electricity or water or gasoline. Further more the Shitte and Kurds came out in big numbers, the problem still exists with the Sunnis. If the Sunnis arent involved in the creation of the new democracy Iraq wont advance one bit - with or without free elections.

The folks that voted showed a lot of courage, and no matter what the eventual outcome I have to feel good for them.

Down syndrome youth used as suicide bomber
By Paul McGeough, Baghdad
February 2, 2005

Amar was 19, but he had the mind of a four-year-old. This handicap didn't stop the insurgency's hard men as they strapped explosives to his chest and guided him to a voting centre in suburban Al-Askan.

And before yesterday's sunrise in Baghdad, his grieving parents loaded his broken remains on the roof of a taxi to lead a sorrowful procession to the holy city of Najaf. There, they gave him a ceremonial wash, shrouded him in white cotton and buried him next to the shrine of Imam Ali, the founder of their Shiite creed.

On Sunday we witnessed an act of collective courage by an estimated 8 million Iraqis as they faced down terrorist threats of death and mayhem to vote in Iraq's first multi-party election in half a century.

But the election day story of Amar is from the other side of human behaviour - in a region where too many have knowingly volunteered for an explosive death in the name of their god. He was chosen because he didn't know.

He had Down syndrome or, as the Iraqis say, he's a mongoli, and when his parents, Ahmed, 42, and Fatima, 40, went to vote with their two daughters Amar was left in the family home.
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They presume that in their absence he set out to fill his day as he always did - wandering the streets of the neighbourhood until, usually, a friend or neighbour would bring him home around dusk.

Al-Askan is a mixed and dangerous suburb. Yesterday the Iraqi police allowed The Age to advance only a few blocks into the area before ordering us out. The area around the family's home was the centre of a running gunfight between Shiites of the Al-Bahadel tribe and Sunnis of the Al-Ghedi tribe.

But one of Amar's cousins, a 29-year-old teacher who asked not to be named, retreated to a distracted state in which Iraqis often discuss death to tell their story as best they can. "They must have kidnapped him," he said. "He was like a baby. He had nothing to do with the resistance and there was nothing in the house for him to make a bomb. He was Shiite. Why bomb his own people?

"He was mindless, but he was mostly happy, laughing and playing with the children in the street. Now, his father is inconsolable; his mother cries all the time," the teacher said.

After voting at 7.30am, Amar's parents joined their extended family for a celebration that became a lunch of chicken and rice, soup and orange juice, at the home of a relative.

The sound of the explosion interrupted the party. But, the cousin said, it was assumed to be a mortar shell, a follow-up to the barrage across the city in the first hours of voting.

"Everyone was very happy and excited, but news came that a mongoli had been a bomber. Ahmed and Fatima became distressed and they raced home. They got neighbours to search and one of them identified Amar's head where it lay on the pavement and his body was broken into pieces.

"I have heard of them using dead people and donkeys and dogs to hide their bombs, but how could they do this to a boy like Amar?"

Apparently, Amar triggered the bomb before he got to the intended target. It exploded while he was crossing open ground.

Amar's father served in Saddam's army, but now he sells cigarettes in a street market in Al-Askan, an area of the city that also displayed bravery in the casting of votes on Sunday.

animals.

That's not a fact, but an opinion that you still are not backing up.Again, as above.That is yet another opinion, and not only can't you back it up, but it betrays a poor understanding of the emergence of democracies. Iraq didn't just have an authoritarian regime, it was totalitarian. It was the one nation in the Middle East that could not transition to a democracy without external intervention. Saying that other nations in the Middle East can't transition to a democracy without an American invasion is completely false. There are no more totalitarian governments in the Arab world. What is needed by the U.S. with nations like Egypt is not action, but inaction. All the U.S. has to do is not support the current regimes, provided that new variables don't emerge.What the rest of the Arab world wants has nothing to do with Al Qaeda. Also, Al Qaeda's presence in Iraq will prove to be, at best, marginally relevant. Everyone knew that when Sadaam was removed, there would be a civil war. What is currently happening is that the civil war is being very well managed. Rather than 5+% of the population being wiped out, well less than 1% is being killed. If this civil war is managed to the point where it occurs only in debates on the floor of their parliament, then this will prove to be one of the greatest experiments in democracy ever, and those who opposed it may be viewed by history as equivalents of Nazi sympathizers.Or perhaps you should call a pollster like Zogby so that you can learn that what Arabs want is already known, and they wan't democracy.You're flat out wrong. When people are not coerced to vote, and their voting is done under the threat of death, then a high voter turnout is absolutely an indication of a people's want for democracy.And this was the opposite of what happened on Sunday. They were coerced into voting, and a failure to do so might have resulted in a loved one's trip to a rape room. Your comparison is illogical, and therefore invalid.Do you want to provide percentages, and demographic breakdowns? In a nation of millions of people you can always find people who "aren't happy." There are former Baathists who aren't happy. Should anyone have been concerned with unhappy former Nazis in post-WWII Germany? That's a ridiculous waste of sympathy. As far as electricity or water, you forgot to mention that more Iraqi's currently have electricity and water than before the invasion, so what's yopur point?Everyone came out in big numbers.No kidding. That's why all of the Shiite leaders were making inclusive statements before, and after the elections. The interim constitition requires that no more than two provinces may object to the new constitution, or there won't be one.

when you have to use a handicapped child to push your meanness, what kind of soul are you?