Iraqis Near Saddam's Hometown Vow to Vote

Associated Press ^ | 1/29/05

[saquin]

Many Iraqis living near Saddam Hussein's hometown said they will vote Sunday because the ballot _ not violence _ will end Iraq's occupation by U.S.-led coalition troops.

The small town of Alam, 10 miles northeast of Saddam's home city of Tikrit, is relatively quiet unlike other Sunni Muslim areas west and north of Baghdad that roil with militancy and fierce opposition to the national elections.

The local leader of one of Iraq's largest clans here is bidding for a seats in the 275-member National Assembly that will govern the country and draft a permanent constitution.

Mashaan al-Jbouri, who heads the 37-member Liberation and Reconciliation Front, has said the country can be freed from occupation only through peaceful means.

Hasan Mohammed Khazaal, a 24-year-old university student, backed that notion.

"We will have a new constitution and I can get rid of the occupiers through elections. This is the only way to evict the occupiers," said Khazaal, who had decorated his car with posters of al-Jbouri, the local chief of the Jbour clan.

Al-Jbouri served as the governor of Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, for a few months after the fall of Saddam's regime in April 2003. He is now a member of the transitional National Council, a government oversight body.

Maj. Gen. Suleiman Youssef Ahmad, a retired officer who served in Saddam's army, has gone house to house in Alam explaining to people what elections are and why they should vote.

"I am not only going to vote. I am guiding the people how to do it," he said.

Another official, 50-year-old Brig. Gen. Mattar Saleh, said he was voting as a means to get foreign troops out of Iraq.

"We are Iraqis who oppose sectarian division, and our aim is to liberate our country from occupation," he said. "I can tell the government that I will elect to ask the occupiers to leave the country through peaceful means."

Most of the area is from Iraq's Sunni Arab minority. Sunnis dominated Iraq for decades under Saddam, who is also a Sunni. But the community has lost privilege and influence with Saddam's ouster.

The Sunnis' religious rivals, the Shiites are likely to win dominance through the ballot after years of oppression. They make up about 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people.

[jwalburg]

Hey, whatever works!

[stylin19a]

"We will have a new constitution and I can get rid of the occupiers through elections...This is the only way to evict the occupiers," said Khazaal, who had decorated his car with posters of al-Jbouri, the local chief of the Jbour clan.

The light bulbs are starting to go on....

[BerniesFriend]

Courage and God speed for these brave souls..

[America's Resolve]

Many Iraqis living near Saddam Hussein's hometown said they will vote Sunday because the ballot _ not violence _ will end Iraq's occupation by U.S.-led coalition troops.

Some of them DO get it. We CAN and WILL leave if asked to by a legitimately constituted government, but after 911, no "insurgency", ie murderers, ever raised in all of Islam has the ability to MAKE us leave by threats or force.

Good Luck Iraq!

Godspeed

[demnomo]

For those FReepers who believe in the power of prayer:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/1331633/posts?page=2

[BobS]

HEY! They are waking up to things! Let's party. Those folks are stubborn like mules, so let's rejoyce when they roam into some excellence once in a while!