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Three Iraqi electoral lists, consisting of 80 seats, have agreed to unite to bolster their negotiating position in the future government, liberal politician Adnan Pachachi said Friday. Pachachi said that along with the secular list of former prime minister Iyad Allawi's 25 seats, the new group will include the religious Sunni National Accordance Front, with 44 seats, and the more secular Sunni National Dialogue Front of Saleh al-Mutlaq and his 11 seats. Pachachi, who ran on Allawi's list, added that a number of other smaller political parties are interested in joining, which might increase the group's size to 88 seats....

THOUGHTS ON THE IRAQI ELECTIONS & THE NEW YORK TIMES In its December 15th cover story on the eve of the Iraqi Elections, Dexter Filkins of The New York Times writes of an expected split between secular and religious groups with ominous foreboding, and prints as substantiated fact, what is most likely Sunni Propaganda. Firstly, why is a split between secular and religious groups a concern? Is Islam in its holiest and noblest form anathema to the development of a free market society? Certainly this is not supported by history. Or am I to assume that the NYT and its...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 16, 2006 — This week marks the end of an era in Iraq with the transfer of authority ceremony between the XVIII Airborne Corps and Task Force Victory, 5th Corps. Lt. Gen. John R. Vines and his XVIII Airborne Corps have performed superbly, executing the tactical missions vital in achieving the successes we all benefit from today in Iraq. In the past year, the Corps has moved mountains. They secured the borders, especially those crossings in the Al Anbar province; denied safe havens to the terrorists and foreign fighters in operations such as Operation Sayaid in the...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - An international assessment team on Thursday cited numerous violations and cases of fraud in Iraq's Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, but it did not question the final results. The International Mission for Iraqi Elections, a 10-nation monitoring body led by Canada, recommended changes for future elections but made no call for repeating any voting from the December parliamentary vote. The release of the mission's report opens the way for the announcement of the results, which was delayed amid complaints by some Sunni Arab leaders about fraud allegations. Shiite Muslim parties are believed to have preserved their...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's electoral commission ruled Monday that more than 99 percent of the ballots from the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections are valid, opening the way for a new government to start coming together. Final election results have been delayed by fraud complaints mainly lodged by the Sunni Arab minority, and groups looking for a political edge in dealing with the Shiite Muslim majority could still make further protests and hold up the naming of new leaders for two or three months. A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, killing its two pilots. A...

The Suuni choose Allawi as their leader, the Kurds unite their administrations. Stage two of the current phase of the political in Iraq which we anticipated a few days ago has just begun and its beginning is marked by the emergence of a new large political bloc. The new bloc was announced today in Baghdad after the largest three blocs of Maram-the Iraqi list, the Accord Front and al-Mutlaq’s Dialogue Front-signed an agreement to form one unified political body. This agreement will grant the new political body a significant political weight with a total of approximately 80 seats in the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, JAN. 10, 2006 (Zenit.org).- An Iraqi bishop says his faithful were faced with a "nightmare" after hard-line Muslims claimed victory in the country's general elections. Adding his voice to widespread allegations of fraud in the Dec. 15 polling, Auxiliary Bishop Andraos Abouna of Baghdad described how the hopes of the country's Christians were dashed after the elections. Iraqi Christians, victims of random kidnappings, bombings and intimidation, had hoped that the elections would signal the end of instability and halt Iraq's slide into an Islamic theocratic state, the Chaldean prelate told the charity Aid to the Church in Need....

Jan 9, 7:52 AM EST Statement Rips Sunnis for Voting in Iraq By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF Associated Press Writer CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- An Internet statement in the name of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group rebuked Sunnis for participating in last month's Iraqi elections, saying they had "thrown a rope" to save U.S. policy in the country. The purported statement by group leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi also said his fighters decided not to disrupt the elections with attacks "to avoid killing some of the Sunnis who were confused" about whether to vote. He also called President Bush a liar, saying:...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 4, 2006 — The beginning of a new year is a time to reflect on the past and look toward the future. Last year was a monumental year. The year began with the successful election of a transitional government, the Iraqi people wrote and ratified a constitution and recently held another successful election. Along the way, more than 15 million Iraqis registered to vote and an increasing number voted in each event, due in part to an increasingly secure environment. A key to the improved security environment was the growth and capability of Iraqi police and army...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Until almost the last minute, Muhammed Wattan had been willing to buck the trend. The 33-year-old Baghdad resident and Shiite Muslim was determined to vote for Ahmad Chalabi's slate of secular candidates in the Dec. 15 parliamentary election. Wattan figured that Chalabi was just the man to establish order and prosperity in war-weary Iraq. On election eve, however, Wattan decided that defending his religious sect was paramount and switched his vote to a religious Shiite ticket. "I felt that we are at war," said Wattan, a college-educated clerk. "Chalabi is not the man for this war." Interviews...

Editor's Note: After much deliberation and discussions among the Townhall.com editorial staff, we are proud to name the Iraqi people as our first annual Citizen of the Year. John Hanley, who served as a civilian with the Department of Defense and the Department of State in Iraq from 2003 to 2005, has provided some excellent first-hand analysis of our selection. Enjoy! ******* 2005 was the year of the vote in Iraq.On three separate days this year, Iraqis had the opportunity to leave their homes, walk to their polling stations, and cast their votes. This simplest of civic duties, something that...

U.S. Army Doctor Delivers Iraqi Election-Day Baby Iraqi army soldiers helped transport an Iraqi mother, experiencing delivery complications, to a combat support hospital where she gave birth to a baby girl on Iraq's election day. By U.S. Army Spc. Rick Rzepka Scimitar Assistant Editor BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 28, 2005 — During the early morning hours of parliamentary elections on Dec. 15, a birth took place at the 10th Combat Support Hospital here. "A beautiful baby like that can give us hope for the future in this troubled land." U.S. Army Col. (Dr.) Brian Crisp On the outskirts of Habbaniyah,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2005 – Free and fair elections in Iraq and Afghanistan represent the U.S. military's most significant accomplishment in 2005, the top U.S. enlisted servicemember said. Army Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began 2005 in Iraq as the senior enlisted advisor for Multinational Corps Iraq. He witnessed the Jan. 30 elections there and said the event and subsequent elections in Iraq and Afghanistan are significant on many levels. "I think elections are the key focus," Gainey said in an interview. "When you can go into...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A United Nations official said Wednesday that Iraq's recent parliamentary elections, which have given a strong lead to the Shiite religious bloc dominating the current government, were credible and that there was there was no justification in calls for a rerun. In violence Wednesday, an inmate in a Baghdad prison grabbed an assault rifle from a guard and opened fire, killing eight people, police said. One American soldier was injured in the attempted prison break, the U.S. military said. The Shiite bloc held talks with Kurdish leaders about who should get the top 12 government jobs, as...

Why still no big-font, front-page headlines screaming, “Millions Vote in Historic Middle East Election!” or “Democracy Comes At Last To Iraq” or “America’s Push for Iraqi Democracy Working”? Besides the politics of gloom — Bush at home and America abroad are always wrong — and the weariness with the violence, there has sadly been too small a constituency for trusting that Arabs should run their own affairs through consensual government. Remember the ingredients of the good old American foreign policy in the Middle East — the one that operated before the bad-new days of neoconservatism?

Iraq's brilliant example'Purple-finger revolution' is a vindication of U.S. policyBy Salim MansurFor the third time in a year, Iraqis confounded the world as they went to the polls Dec. 15 to electing a new 275-member parliament under the constitution they voted for in October. Here are a few remarkable facts jubilantly reported soon after polling closed by the widely read Iraqi blogger based in Baghdad, "Mohammed of Iraq The Model": - Security provided by the new Iraqi army and police was much improved since the last two elections, in January and October; - The registered voters list was increased, adding...

<p>But despite militant rhetoric, seemingly aimed at increasing their leverage, Sunnis are negotiating with others to build a governing coalition on the basis of the existing poll results.</p>

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's top political leaders aimed yesterday to defuse a gathering crisis over contested general election results, while the country's top Shi'ite cleric called for setting up a national unity government. President Jalal Talabani met with ... two main political coalitions disputing the results of ... elections, the Sunni Accordance Front and former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National List, as well as his own Kurdish Alliance. "There is a crisis ... and it is necessary to recognize there are problems, rather than hide them," [said] Mahdi al-Hafez of the Allawi list . .. The alliance won overwhelming majorities...

The seemingly successful Iraqi election of December 15 came under critical scrutiny from several quarters. Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.), minority leader, pointed out that persons of differing political vision were elected. “There is no consensus on policy in Iraq,” Reid said. “Iraq is headed for contentious disagreements between political parties over legislation, taxes and foreign affairs. I see no harmony of viewpoints.” Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) speculated that factions within the Iraqi Parliament might attempt to impeach leaders of opposing parties. “There could be disagreements over policy, accusations of scandals or corruption, that, you know, might cause one party to...

BAGHDAD - Iraq's top political leaders met on Saturday to defuse a gathering crisis over contested general election results while the country's top Shiite cleric called for setting up a national unity government. President Jalal Talabani met with representatives from the two main political coalitions disputing the results of the December 15 elections, the Sunni National Concord Front and former prime minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National list, as well as his own Kurdish Alliance. "There is a crisis... and it is necessary to recognize there are problems rather than hide them," Mahdi al-Hafez of the Allawi list told reporters after...

Iraq's electoral commission is striking off some 100 candidates who ran in the December 15 general elections for links with Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party. "A court has overruled the commission's initial decision to allow them to run and we are now applying the law and removing the names of about 100 candidates," Adel al-Lami told AFP on Saturday. "We are asking political parties to submit new names from the same electoral lists to replace the candidates struck off," he said, giving no details as to the parties and candidates concerned. The electoral law does not allow former senior officials...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A United Nations official said on Friday he saw no reason to rerun last week's Iraqi election despite allegations by Sunni Arab and secular parties of fraud. At least two dozen disgruntled Iraqi parties, including the biggest Sunni and secular blocs, formally demanded a new vote on Thursday after partial results from the Dec. 15 poll showed they had done worse than expected and that Shi'ite Islamists had again triumphed and might win a majority in parliament. But Craig Jenness, U.N. adviser to the Electoral Commission, said he doubted complaints now being investigated would lead to scrapping...

In order to get this report up without delay, it is being posted without photos. BillF will add photos later, so please check back on the thread.This past Saturday a group of die hard supporters of the U.S. Troops, President Bush and the Iraqi people gathered at Layfette Park in front of the White House. The people in attendance were (asterisk " * " denote lurkers): BillF, Tom the Redhunter, Sam*, Fraxinus, Mr.Mrs.RedWhiteBlue (New FReepers - daughter & son-in-law of Trooprally), trooprally [Mr. and Mrs.], Doctor Raoul, Justanobody, BufordP, kristinn, Iraqikurd, Landry Fan, and Shiek Ahmed Subhy*, the guest speaker....

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2005 – Increased numbers of capable Iraqi security forces and more Sunni involvement in the electoral process were among the factors that deterred terrorist violence before and during the Dec. 15 voting, a senior U.S. military officer told reporters at a Baghdad news conference today. Unlike the days preceding the Jan. 30 Iraqi election, there was no jump in terrorist activity just before or during the Dec. 15 voting, Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said. "There was a significant spike in attacks just preceding the January elections," Lynch said as he...

Monday, December 19, 2005 Victory of Iran’s close friends in the Iraqi Election Mehran Riazaty: a former Iran analyst for the Central Command of the Coalition Forces in Baghdad. Baztab News Agency reported that the two close Shiite friends of Iran in the Iraqi election, Hakim and Ahmad Chalabi are together so far had won 122 seats. Ayad Allawi’s Coalition only has won 15 seats. The Kurdish Shiite groups close to Iran have won 56 seats. Hakim’s Coalition 110 seats. The Kurdish Coalition 56 seats. Sunni’s Coalition 47 seats. Ayad Allawi’s groups 15 seats. Ahmad Chalabi’s groups 10 seats. Sheik...

Iraq Turnout Is Higher Than in Last 2 Ballots Sunnis Lead Surge in Participation By Omar Fekeiki and Jonathan Finer Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, December 22, 2005; Page A22 BAGHDAD, Dec. 21 -- Nearly 70 percent of eligible voters participated in parliamentary elections here last week, a turnout far exceeding that of the two previous Iraqi ballots this year, election officials said Wednesday. But they also said they were investigating at least 20 serious complaints of impropriety related to the election, the results of which have been hotly contested by a range of parties. "The question is not one...

Wednesday, December 21, 2005 Update: (6:00 pm by Mohammed) December 20, 2005 07:00 PST Reading the results in some detail on al-Sabah this morning, some of the numbers caught my attention and I’m talking here about the number of votes achieved by local small lists or individual candidates in the southern provinces. The numbers I read were simply ridiculous and here are a few examples from Maysan: -Lawyer Abdulwahid al-Lami is from the Lami tribe, the biggest in a province that is run by tribal relations. This candidate won 5 votes, yes 5 votes! This means this man didn’t even...

AL ASAD, Iraq -- When Iraqis took to the polls Oct. 15 to vote on their new constitution, Sgt. Katherine Weller and Lance Cpl. Carlos Chilla were in the mix, providing security for the poll workers as part of Operation Liberty Express. Two months later, as Iraqis voted for their national parliament, Chilla and Weller returned to Camp Liberty, serving the same duty as they had before, with a distinctive twist: they were battle buddies, standing post together. “I was grateful to be with her because we both knew what to expect,” said Chilla, a Wai Ko Loa, Hawaii, native,...

AL ASAD, Iraq -- The people of Iraq voted in a general election to decide on a permanent 275-member Iraqi National Assembly, Dec. 15. Throughout the country, Marines, Soldiers and Iraqi Security Forces provided protection so Iraqis could vote in secure locations. One of the important roles in providing security for the elections was that of the female U.S. service members who searched female Iraqis at voting stations. Marines from the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Al Asad eagerly volunteered to play a part in history and help the women of Iraq secure rights for themselves in a free society....

IRAQI election officials have so far found no major irregularities that could effect the result of last week's legislative polls, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said today. Mr McCormack told reporters the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) had received "a number" of complaints about the voting for the first permanent parliament since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003. But he said, "the initial assessment in the days right after the election was that there were no complaints or incidents that they found that would fall into the most severe category that would throw into question the results". The...

Sunnis in Iraq Allege 'Falsification' of Election Results Tuesday, December 20, 2005 BAGHDAD, Iraq — Sunni Arabs on Tuesday challenged partial election results released a day earlier, calling them a "falsification of the will of the people" and saying evidence of fraud was abundant. A driver for Jordan's embassy was kidnapped by assailants. Sunni Arab officials suggested that the country's security and stability were at stake if their complaints about last week's parliamentary vote were not addressed. Officials concentrated their protests on results from Baghdad province, the country's biggest electoral district.

The Antiwar Left’s Conspiracy of Silence By Jacob Laksin FrontPageMagazine.com | December 20, 2005 There was no shortage of good news following last week’s parliamentary elections in Iraq. Upward of 70 percent of Iraqis reportedly took part in the voting. Sunni participation was up, even in redoubts of insurgency like Fallujah. Incidents of violence were down. International observers attested to the legitimacy of the process, which met international standards. Even Kofi Anan, hardly an exponent of pro-American talking points, was compelled by the sheer volume of the turnout—11 million strong according to the latest figures—to recognize the success of the...

The election last Thursday in Iraq, the third since the U.S. invaded, is an astonishing historical event in the Muslim Middle East......Yet with some few exceptions, the American media have done a poor job of telling us why this vote is so historically important, why it is such a remarkable achievement, and why the administration deserves credit for making it happen. Having opposed the war and the President from the start, the media’s coverage has relentlessly accentuated the negative, offering nit-picking analyses even as the bullets are flying, and asserting the failure of the effort before the job is even...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — FNC's Dana Lewis It was all positive on election day in Iraq. After all how should we, could we, report it any differently. Violence? All those threats from Al Qaeda to blow up everything and everyone? There were only 14 minor attacks on polling stations. Mostly drive by shootings that didn’t result in voting disruptions. A bomb in Mosul killed one man. A rocket in the Green Zone, which rattled the ground where I stood doing a live report for FOX News at 7 a.m. as the polls opened, injured three people. But over all? Peaceful. And...

Iraqis are counting their ballots, but U.S. ground commanders still can't give a timetable for coming home. Here's why. Dec. 26, 2005 - Jan 2, 2006 issue - It was the day they had all been waiting for, and Gen. George Casey couldn't sleep. Everything was riding on this—not the least how long Casey would have to stay in Iraq—and his nerves were keyed up as he lay awake listening for blast concussions that he knew could come anywhere, any time. At 6 a.m. on Dec. 15, America's top commander in Iraq finally rose red-eyed from his bed, had his...

Though Iraq has now held the freest election in Arab history, conventional wisdom in Washington and the Middle East still dismisses the Bush administration's hope that its military intervention will catalyze democratic change around the region... That's one of the perverse effects of the war: Amid all the noise of suicide bombings, talk of a quagmire for U.S. troops and a sectarian conflict that could lead to Iraq's disintegration, most people haven't noticed that in the rest of the Arab Middle East, the political momentum of the past year has been . . . distinctly democratic.... any honest examination of...

December 18, 2005: Arguably, the best outcome for the December 15th parliamentary elections in Iraq would be for no “party” or coalition of two parties to secure the 2/3rds majority of delegates necessary to permit it to form a government. This would force a broader coalition, which would permit an opening for Sunni “accomodationist” participation. Sunni leaders are aware that they made a serious political blunder by boycotting the January elections for the provisional parliament that wrote the new Constitution. As a result of the boycott, there was relatively little the Sunni input in the framing of the Constitution, and...

As the trends became available regarding the Iraqi elections of last Thursday, what has emerged is that contrary to all pre-poll projections, the Shi'ite religious coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), not only held together, but also can be expected to dominate the new 275-member National Assembly for the next four years. More importantly, the "secular" candidates who were believed to enjoy links with the US security agencies would seem to have been routed. Former premier Iyad Allawi's prospects of leading the new government seem virtually nil. And Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Accord suffered a shattering defeat. The prognosis that...

BAGHDAD, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Islamists, at odds with Washington over human rights and ties to Iran, may hold on to a slim parliamentary majority despite a big turnout by minority Sunnis, partial election results showed on Monday. At any rate it will be by far the biggest party. Leaders of the United Iraqi Alliance, whose performance in government has been criticised by U.S. officials and by Sunni Arab rebels who accuse them of backing sectarian militias, said they would start informal talks on Tuesday with Sunnis, Kurds and other groups to try to form a national...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Preliminary election returns Monday showed Iraqi voters divided along ethnic and religious lines with a commanding lead held by the religious Shiite coalition that dominates the current government. Meanwhile, an Iraqi lawyer said at least 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime were freed from jail without charges. They included biological and chemical weapons experts known as "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax." Violent demonstrations also broke out across Iraq and the oil minister threatened to resign after the government raised the prices of gasoline and cooking fuel by up to nine times. And a militant group...

Some 36 million watch Big Four networks President Bush hasn’t made a primetime speech since September. After this weekend’s revelation that Bush authorized domestic spying on suspected terrorists in the aftermath of Sept. 11, everyone wanted to hear from the president. Last night’s 20-minute presidential address about the Iraq War on the Big Four broadcast networks averaged 36.5 million total viewers from 9-9:30 p.m., according to Nielsen fast affiliate ratings. Final viewership numbers, measuring just Bush’s speech, will be out tomorrow. The 36.5 million total viewers were a 15 percent increase over the 31.8 million who tuned into Bush’s post-Hurricane...

Iraqi Voters Say 'On Democracy Way' By J. Anajar Gulf Region Division U.S. Army Corps of Engineers BAGHDAD, Dec. 19, 2005 —“Democracy, referendum, constitution and parliament; we know these words’ spelling, but not their meaning.� Arusafi the well-known Iraqi poet made this comment. It applies to the period before the collapse of Saddam’s regime when all the conceptions of freedom and liberty were cancelled. What remained were only bare and inapplicable words.Now, Iraqis have started to feel the meanings of the words referred to by Arusafi. That is apparent by their challenge to the dangers; despite threats communicated by...

The election last Thursday in Iraq, the third since the U.S. invaded, is an astonishing historical event in the Muslim Middle East. Despite the threats and attacks of terrorist murderers and kidnappers, 11 million Iraqis, 7 out of 10, including millions of presumably disaffected Sunni, turned out to do what they never did under the brutal dictator Hussein––assert one of the fundamental rights of a free people: choose those who will govern them. Yet with some few exceptions, the American media have done a poor job of telling us why this vote is so historically important, why it is such...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary December 18, 2005 President's Address to the Nation The Oval Office President's Remarks view      In Focus: Renewal in Iraq 9:01 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Three days ago, in large numbers, Iraqis went to the polls to choose their own leaders -- a landmark day in the history of liberty. In the coming weeks, the ballots will be counted, a new government formed, and a people who suffered in tyranny for so long will become full members of the free world. This election will not mean the end of violence....

An extraordinary election occurred in Iraq on Thursday. However, all three major network Sunday talk shows – ABC’s “This Week,” NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and CBS’ “Face the Nation” – all began their programs this morning with a discussion about revelations released on Friday by The New York Times that the White House has been authorizing surveillance of potential terrorists on American soil without getting court orders. CBS’ Bob Schieffer, after introducing his guests Senators Joe Biden (D-Delaware) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), began the segment:

After months of criticism of President Bush’s policy, gloomy press coverage that seemed to focus almost entirely on car bombs, and near panic on the part of some Congressional Democrats, we now have a useful barometer to assess the real state of affairs in Iraq - Thursday’s historic and enormously successful parliamentary elections. The third national plebiscite vote in just two years since Iraq’s liberation from Saddam Hussein was largely free of violence and saw a turnout rate higher than most western nations’. Millions of Iraqis who proudly dipped their fingers in purple ink, enjoying the democracy that our troops...

U.S. President George W. Bush is shown in this December 17, 2005 photo, plans to make his case for the US military presence in Iraq in a televised speech late Sunday (9:00pm EST), just days after a parliamentary election in Iraq that saw large voter turnout. (REUTERS/Chris Kleponis)

9:00 PM EST 8:00 PM CST etc, etc ........

Well, that old Iraqi quagmire just keeps getting worse and worse, if only for the Democratic Party. What was the straw they were clutching at back in January? Oh, yeah, sure, gazillions of Kurds and Shiites might have gone to the polls, but where were the Sunni? As some of us said at the time, the Sunni'll come out tomorrow. And so they did. On Thursday, they voted in record numbers, leaving Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats frantically scrambling for another disaffected Iraqi minority group they could use as proof that the whole crazy...

CHRIS MATTHEWS: 'BUSH BELONGS ON MOUNT RUSHMORE'IF HE WINS 'GREATEST GAMBLE SINCE ROOSEVELT BACKED BRITAIN BEFORE WWII' (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) WHY DID BILL CLINTON IGNORE TERRORISM?Was it simply the constraints of his liberal mindset, or was it something even more threatening to our national security?by Mia T, 8.18.05 (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) thanx to jla and Wolverine for the audio "Mr. bin Laden used to live in Sudan. He was expelled from Saudi Arabia in '91 and he went to the Sudan. We'd been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America...