Iraqi Election~~~~~ Live thread.

All of us | Jan 29 2005 | Various Freepers

[Dog]

It is now 3 am in Iraq the polls will be opening in the next few hours as the world watches and hold's it breath. Iraq is about to undertake a historic vote.

Lets wish them well....... please post all comments and election photos to this thread.

[scoastie]

it's raining? Are you watching Fox? Shep just gave a great report...sorry about your comp...MSNBC is so very negative...what else is new...

[rwfromkansas]

Interesting. Does CNN give attribution for their claims (or Fox, for that matter)?

[processing please hold]

I'm listening to the song again, and I'm still crying. When I hear the words of the song and see the happy faces of the Iraqis as they vote, I thank our military.

[HAL9000]

Iraqi Kurds flock to polling stations hoping for better future

ARBIL, Iraq, Jan 30 (AFP) - 8h02 - Iraqi Kurds flocked to polling stations in northern Iraq Sunday to take part in elections they hope will herald a new era for their long-oppressed community.

Pina Mohammed brought her two children to cast her ballot.

"My husband is in the national guard and I came with my children because I want their future to be better than ours after this election," she told AFP outside the voting centre at Arbil's Rizkari school.

While many voters across Iraq were hesistant to venture outside after insurgents threatened major attacks, this school in Arbil's Sidawa neighbourhood saw an early rush of voters.

Kurdish areas are expected to register the highest turnout in Iraq despite fears that Sunni Arab extremist organisations would seek to target their rival communities to discredit the elections.

A heavy police and Iraqi army presence could be seen around polling stations in Arbil, a city which saw one of the worst Islamist attacks since the US invasion when more than 100 people were killed in twin bombings last year.

Hosniya Jabbar, an 83-year-old woman, also made the effort to reach the polling station.

"My husband is dead and my children live abroad but I am voting for the children of Kurdistan, to give them a better future," she said.

Kamiran Ahmed, 19, was equally enthusiastic.

"Democracy is great. We have deprived of it for so long and now we can finally choose the people who represent us," he said. "I hope that that our lives will be changed that those who made our parents suffer will never come back to power."

Jalal Talabani, who heads the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and is thought by some to be vying for a top position in the next government, was among the first to vote in Suleimaniyah.

The PUK and the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massud Barzani are running on a common slate which is expected to perform strongly and secure more than 50 seats in the assembly.

Unlike the rest of Iraq, it is not the first time Kurds in the three northern provinces have had the chance to vote in a free election. In 1992, just after the first Gulf war, they elected a regional parliament, and in 1999 they elected three provincial councils.

But Sunday's vote is likely to be crucial to the Kurds' political ambitions as the 275-member national assembly up for grabs is charged with writing a new constitution for post-Saddam Iraq.

Kurdish leaders want that text to enshrine their hard-fought right to self-rule and want their existing autonomous region expanded to include the northern oil centre of Kirkuk and parts of two other provinces.

Kurds will also pick their provincial councils and their 111-member autonomous parliament.

[SheWolf]

Shep wears waaaaay too much eyeliner for my taste... can anyone say "Boy George?" hehehe I am now a Geraldo fan for life -- I heard him say (about an hour or more ago) that he is thrilled to in Iraq and witness such an historic day. I think he was near tears of joy when he was talking... got choked up and all. I'm so glad Geraldo joined Fox.

[Lead Moderator]

Back to DU, you miserable scum.

[faithincowboys]

I can't wait to see Kerry's demeanor tommorow. I truly think he should be pre-empted in favor of straight Iraq election coverage. Isn't Russert giving him the whole hour? That's ridiculous.

[Heatseeker]

People are by nature loyal to their own country. Iraqis are grateful for what we have done. But, they want us to hit the road.

Someone should market T-shirts for US soldiers and Marines that says in Arabic and English, "I want to go home but I can't until Iraq is peaceful and free. Help send me home."

[REDWOOD99]

Buh-BYEEE!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

He ( Ramsey Clarke )is part of this:

********************************************************

Unholy Alliance
by David Horowitz
Regnery Publishing, Inc.; ISBN: 089526076X
Hardcover - 256 pages (September 2004)

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies. This Left, which once made common cause with Communists, has now joined forces with radical Islam in attacking America’s defenses at home and its policies abroad. From their positions of influence in the university and media culture, leftists have defined America as the “root cause” of the attacks against it. In a remarkable exploration of the “Mind of the Left,” Horowitz traces the evolution of American radicalism from its Communist past to its “anti-war” present. He then shows how this Left was able to turn the Democratic Party presidential campaign around and reshape its views on the War on Terror.

Horowitz’s Unholy Alliance, writes John Haynes, the noted historian of American Communism, “is an insightful, brilliant examination of the mental world of the radical left. Horowitz shows how today’s radicals, unwilling to reflect on the internal flaws that destroyed Marxism-Leninism from within, have embraced an all-consuming nihilism in its place. This has led them to a hatred of American institutions and a solidarity with Islamic terrorists that makes the radical left more properly regarded as dangerous than loony.”

Unholy Alliance is an eye-opening book that should unsettle conventional assumptions and reveals why intellectuals and political leaders who applaud Michael Moore are no laughing matter. As Harvey Klehr, author of Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, writes, “The world Communist movement may be moribund, but its habits of mind and ideological fantasies have not disappeared. This is a fascinating and depressing account.”

Price: $19.01 - Click here to order:

[BigSkyFreeper]

What is really funny about how the media is handling this is the fact that the place overflowing with anxious voters is right smack dab in the middle of the Sunni Triangle. For weeks we were told by the media that the insurgents were telling the Sunni's to boycott the elections.

It ain't EFFEN workin! They're ignoring both the insurgents and their accomplices in the media! LMAO!

[scoastie]

Yea!!! Whether it is true or not, it is great press and sorely needed amidst the doom and gloom of the others...it is what the Middle East needs to hear...

[DISCO]

Moron?

[SheWolf]

LOL Love the t-shirt idea! I'm sure the troops would be more than happy to wear that advert!

[COEXERJ145]

It's way past your bedtime troll.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I bet they change their plan!

[SeaBiscuit]

"It's just killing the media this is not a flop, it will be really hard to spin this without being called on it."

Yep, but don't fret they'll spin this to sound live the voter turn out was a mandate to get the "occupiers" out of Iraq.

[REDWOOD99]

Move-on. Or moved-on.

[Jet Jaguar]

Bye Bye

[faithincowboys]

Yeah, it's great. Thank god for our troops. I hope the Iraqis build a country that we'll be happy to say we had something to do with it. Maybe just maybe they'll become the Japan of the Middle East.