Iraqi vote

“If these numbers are confirmed the percentage of Iraqi voters well exceeds the percentage of Americans who voted in the last election.

Democracy is the best weapon against terroism.”

“I woke up early so I saw CNN coverage. How brave the people are to vote, I wish more people in this country would.”

“22 casualties during the elcetions, not bad at all considering the concerns that led up to the elections. This is great news for Iraqiis, and Tango said it right...those are some brave people. I hope this really is the step forward they need.”

“There was no firm count of the number of people who voted, as Iraqi election officials in the evening backed away from an earlier estimate that turnout was approximately 72 percent. Sarid Ayar, spokesman for the electoral commission, said in the evening that the earlier numbers were "anticipations," and Reuter quoted him as "guessing" that maybe 8 million Iraqis voted, which would be a little over 60 percent of registered voters.

Adil Allami, the chief electoral officer, said the early estimates "were based on observations and senses and interactions with the lines and the flow of people."”

“Let’s just hope this is a better turning point than Saddam’s capture or the handover to an interim government was. (Remember those events were to have meant a decrease in violence?)”

“I don't think anyone expects a decrease in violence. I think there will be an increase in violence against insurgents, which will decrease their ability.

What about the celebrations in the streets of Faluja? Would anyone have predicted that two months ago? Things are getting better every day. There is no miracle for peace. Only George Bush's plan and vision.”

“Vision??

That fool needs glasses.”

“Does he? It looks pretty clear to the Iraqi's.”

“Visions of oil fields.........dance in his head.

I wish the Iraqis well.”

“Visions of freedom and Democracy.

Democracy is the most powerful weapon against terrorism.”

“Politics are great. We set up no-fly zones to protect rebel factions we hope will stage a coup and remove the Sunni's on their own. That doesn't happen so we storm the country and set up elections in dominant Kurd and Shiite areas. Now that we're finally getting what we want we realize that without a strong Sunni turn out the election will hold very little legitimacy. Duh.”

“I thought there was a stong Sunni turnout.”

“Does anyone have info. on some of these numbers? Was this registered Iraqis? Or Iraqis eligible to vote? Did it include the Americans and Iranians who voted? Or didn't vote? What percentage of Sunnis voted?

This was, thankfully, a very good day. My congratulations to the Shiites and the US soldiers who have so bravely served in the cause of freedom.

However, the fundamental problem in Iraq has been how to get Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to live together peacefully. That problem has definitely not been solved today.

I would also submit that the commitment of American troops in Iraq for ten years was less important than the ability to make a credible threat of military force against Iran and N. Korea during the next ten years.

So, it was a good day in Iraq. But Iran is still pumping out the nuclear material. And we have nothing but sanctions to stop it.”

“BAGHDAD (Reuters) But in parts of the Sunni Arab heartland, where the insurgency has been bloodiest and several parties called for a boycott, polling stations were empty.”

“Sounds like the Democrats after the last election in America, LOL”

“Unfortunately the one's that will get voted in, will probably get shot, beheaded or bombed.

At least, this vote is a first step.”

“I don't think I ever heard anyone say Democracy was easy. Making hard choices is not popular, but that does not mean making hard decisions is wrong.”

“Osama bin Ladin said that Democracy is wrong.

I disagree.”

“baby steps”

“I think this election was more than baby steps. I think the Iraqi people took a giant leap that no one thought they would take. These are people with courage. People worth fighting for.”

“the reason so many voters turned out is that the iraqis heard fox was going to make a reality show called "who wants to be blown to a million pieces?"”

“BBw I wasnt calling the election a baby step. I was making reference to the whole direction they are (hopefully) headed. Its really interesting to see how we respond to their elcetion. By we I mean us as individuals. We have some high expectations that arent always realistic. I would love to read a really comprehensive study on american voting history. I have heard some great stuff on NPR regarding just that. One of the most interesting things that wsa discussed was our impression as Americans that all of our elections (minus the past two presidential elections) have had a fairly substantial margin or error interms of ballots being lost, miscounted etc... no one ever made issue of it. It wsa exceptable. Now its isnt which is fine too. I geuss it just seems odd that we could reasonably expect a nation to go from dictator to democracy overnight. We have been freehere for over 225 years yet women have only had the right to vote for about 100 years and blacks suffered under segregation and jim crow not 40 years ago. We have had two highly contentious elections recently yet we dont discount democracy here. Its a work in progress constantly readjusting and adapting. The iraqis cant be where we are till they go through what we have...which means time.

Regarding the lack of sunni turnout...we had an election once that 1/2 of the US couldnt vote in and the election has never been considered illegitimate. 1864 Abe Lincoln, the south couldnt vote.”

“From everything I've heard and seen today the general feeling of the left is, "Hope for the best but pray for the worst.".”

“I agree, birch. The Democrats have imagined some utopian ideal of how wars are fought and countries are liberated. It is like they have no knowledge of history. By any historical standard the liberation of Iraq is a monumental success.”

“BBW, I never said liberal or conservative. I dont blame either "side" I was speaking of historical context, not idealogoy. I'd rather not get caught up in the whole left vs right thing. Its a dead end.”

“The Confederacy had declared itself a seperate nation therefore had no claim in an election being held in the Union. The Sunni's still consider themselves Iraqi's.

BBW:

As for their accusations of terrorizing the innocent, the children, and the women, these are in the category of 'accusing others with their own affliction in order to fool the masses.' The evidence overwhelmingly shows America and Israel killing the weaker men, women and children in the Muslim world and elsewhere. A few examples of this are seen in the recent Qana massacre in Lebanon, and the death of more than 600,000 Iraqi children because of the shortage of food and medicine which resulted from the boycotts and sanctions against the Muslim Iraqi people, also their withholding of arms from the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina leaving them prey to the Christian Serbians who massacred and raped in a manner not seen in contemporary history. Not to forget the dropping of the H-bombs on cities with their entire populations of children, elderly, and women, on purpose, and in a premeditated manner as was the case with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Osama bin Laden
In Nida'ul Islam magazine October-November 1996

People such as myself would like to see all the killing stop. I believe that we are instigating a lot of this and that we could have prevented 9/11 if our foreign policy included a little more compassion. Osama is a bad guy but that doesn't make us the good guys. Your propaganda didn't make me feel bad. Well, I feel bad for all the sheeple that fall for that garbage.”

“"I never said liberal or conservative. I dont blame either "side" I was speaking of historical context, not idealogoy. I'd rather not get caught up in the whole left vs right thing. Its a dead end"

everything is left vs right with bbw. you know that. i bet when he gets dressed in the morning, he makes a left vs right issue out of putting his socks on.”

“this was just the 1st election. I saw on the news last night that there are 3 more elections to take place with the last being Dec 15th 2005.

Don't look for the troops to be home anytime soon. They will have to be there for the remaining elections and for Iraq to get a Army for itself. The Iraqi police will not be able to handle it by themselves.”

“Assyrian Christians say Kurds wouldn't let them vote

NEW YORK Some Iraqi Christians say their kinsmen in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq weren't allowed to vote in Sunday's election.

Simon George, co-director of an Assyrian satellite television station, says he received "at least 100 calls" from Assyrians complaining about being deprived of the vote in Christian villages around Mosul (MOH'-sul). He says Assyrian Christians were promised ballot boxes that didn't arrive.

George said he was told that in the Assyrian villages, Kurds "stopped all the elections."

In New York, the Reverend Ken Joseph Junior said he's received similar reports from his fellow Assyrian Christians, and has asked that those villages be given an extra day to cast ballots.

Joseph says he's also concerned that Iranians may have crossed the border to inflate the vote for Shiite (SHEE'-eyet) parties. He says most Assyrians and other Iraqis want a secular government.”

“Isn't the Vileman a little bit grumpy today?
Must be because the elections went rather well.”

“I've heard the (United States) Federal Election Commission has come up with a plan to increase voter participation here.

Flyers threatening to behead anyone who votes will be mailed out in the weeks preceding future elections.”

“No SS, this is step two.

Step one: pray for mass bombing and cassualties. If step 1 doesn't happen go to step 2.

Step 2: Cry foul long, loud and long. Old democrat trick.”

“The Democrats lost their second election in three months. - Rush Limbaugh”

“I don't normally laugh at him but...BAWHAHAHAHA!”

“Damn, that is funny.”

“No SS, this is step two.

Step one: pray for mass bombing and cassualties. If step 1 doesn't happen go to step 2.

Step 2: Cry foul long, loud and long. Old democrat trick

Oh man, that's so true! That's exactly how they've been ranting on Democratic Underground.”

“U.S. ENCOURAGED BY VIETNAM VOTE;
Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror

By PETER GROSE Special to The New York Times. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Sep 4, 1967. pg. 2, 1 pgs

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.

<snip>”

“"Confederacy had declared itself a seperate nation therefore had no claim in an election being held in the Union. The Sunni's still consider themselves Iraqi's. "

Odds are prolly quite good that many southerners would have liked to stay with the union and were not really given the choice. They condidered themselves to be Americans just as many rebels in our revolution still considered themselves to be British.”

“I actually am quite heartened by what happened over the weekend. This was definitely good news.

I don't think that it solves the underlying problems. But, geez, you can't see some of those interviews about happy voters and not feel happy.

Oh, and I don't think that this vote makes everything okay. And I don't think it equals in goodness what this whole mess has caused in badness.

But, call a spade a spade. A good election with minimal loss of life is a definite positive.

Now let's see if we can trash Bush's irresponsible Social Security plan:)”

“Well it's obvious democracy is here to stay in Iraq.”

“The election looks like it went pretty well. I'm assuming that the glitches (like some intimidation of minorties in some areas) are fairly minor. This is good news and confirms that the Iraqi people want a voice in their future. It looks like the insurgents lost credibility by opposing the elections so forcefully, first because people voted anyway amd secondly because the majority of the people seem to have seen the election as a valid step towards self-determination. This is also good news.

Now is not the time to spin this one way or another. This is neither assurance of success, nor is it a feel good spectacle amidst an inevitable quagmire - it is a significant step in the right direction and it has planted new seeds of hope and democracy. There is lots of hard work and pain ahead, but there are also lots of positive possibilities.”

“Good for the Iraqis! They finally showed some pelotas. I hope they can run with this and be successful with their government of choice.”

“Pe·lo·tas (pə-lo'təs, pi-lô'täs)

A city of southeast Brazil on a lagoon south-southwest of Pôrto Alegre. It is a major producer of dried beef. Population: 319,000.”

“ Odds are prolly quite good that many southerners would have liked to stay with the union and were not really given the choice.

Democracy in action.”

“Iraqi Voting Disrupts News Reports of Bombings

(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 of precinct stations, each armed with the distinctive mark of the new freedom guerrillas -- an ink-stained index finger, which one former Ba'athist called "the evidence of their betrayal of 50 years of Iraqi tradition."

Journalists struggled to put a positive spin on the day's events, but the video images of tyranny's traitors choosing a future of freedom overwhelmed the official story of bloodshed and mayhem.

ScrappleFace”

“Kerry: 'Terror' Groups Deserve Voice in Iraq's Future

(2005-01-31) -- Sen. John Kerry. D-MA, said today that history will judge Sunday's landmark election in Iraq as an "utter failure for George W. Bush if the U.S. cannot find a way to give al Qaeda and other disenfranchised so-called 'terror' groups a voice in Iraq's new government."

"We use that word 'terrorist' to marginalize and demonize people whose way of expressing ideas is culturally different from ours," said Mr. Kerry. "But when a man takes up the scimitar to behead an innocent civilian, or straps on the exploding vest for a walk through the marketplace, he's just passionately stating his philosophy. Who are we to judge his methods?"

Mr. Kerry, who told NBC's Tim Russert that he's "keeping his options open" for another failed run for the White House in 2008, denied Republican accusations that he's on the "wrong side of history" in his opposition to Bush administration efforts to bring freedom to the Middle East.

"How can they say I'm on the wrong side of history?" he asked rhetorically. "I'm speaking out against Bush blunders in Iraq, and I plan to vote for another $80 billion to fund the blundering. You tell me which side of history I'm on."

ScrappleFace”

“scrappleface is the only conservative pundit i know thats funny, but its starting to get a little one-note”

“Step one: pray for mass bombing and cassualties. If step 1 doesn't happen go to step 2.


Hey, Oryx. F_ck you and everyone that looks like you! And learn to spell casualties, you moron!”

“Can someone please explain "pelotas"? Buck obviously isn't referencing the town.................I think.”

“Ummmm, TreeB-


Step one: pray for mass bombing and casualties. If step 1 doesn't happen go to step 2.

Step 2: Cry foul long, loud and long. Old democrat trick.”
Nigal
12:23:59 PM
1/31/05

LOL! I accept your invitation of buggery! Come ‘re big boy!

BTW- I fixed the casualties typo. Thanks.”