You think? 
Posted on 01/29/2005 6:13:04 PM PST by kristinn
File thus under: It ain't braggin' if it's true.
Back in October, the D.C. Chapter of Free Republic staged a rally for our Iraqi friends in Lafayette Park in front of the White House.
The rally, held on October 25, was hastily put together in two weeks because the Iraqis wanted to send a message of support for President Bush before the U.S. election on November 2.
About 30 Iraqis along with a dozen Freepers attended the rally. The media turnout was mixed. Local Washington area media ignored the rally, but NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, Al Hurra and Al Arybia (sp) all sent camera crews.
The American networks were interested in covering former Rep. Bob Dornan. However, Mr. Dornan had a family medical emergency that morning and ended up arriving after the rally had ended.
The camera crews stayed for the duration of the rally. We started it late, in hopes that some late arriving Iraqis might show, and ended it early when they didn't. The camera crews were very understanding and didn't complain.
Once we got under way, the rally went really well. We had a mix of Iraqi and American speakers. The Iraqis spoke very passionately in Arabic. Even though we couldn't understand the words, their anger at the terrorists and their gratefulness to America and President Bush needed no translating.
In the small crowd, Iraqi families held signs in English and Arabic expressing their thanks to President Bush for liberating their country.
We ended the rally an hour earlier than scheduled because of the low attendance. Mr. Dornan showed up after that, but he stayed for a long time listening to the Iraqis as they informed him about conditions in Iraq and problems here in some of the programs targeting Iraq.
Afterward, we felt like the rally hadn't been as successful as it could have been. The American media didn't report on it, and it didn't seem to get much play overseas.
But then, something happened. The Arab language networks showed the rally in Iraq. Requests were made for copies of the rally and soon a hand held camera version of the rally was being distributed on the Internet among Iraqis online.
What was said at the rally struck a chord with many Iraqis, such that the rally came to the attention of the highest levels of government there. One thing that caught their attention was the call by our friend Nofel Al-jazairi for the inclusion of Iraqi exiles in the upcoming Iraqi elections. After the rally, the government decided to establish the overseas voting program for the Iraqi exiles. Confirmation of this came in a PalTalk session last week.
A current candidate who used to be a spokesman for Prime Minister Allawi was complaining about the low turnout in the overseas elections. He said, "because of that rally in front of the White House, we spent $90 million dollars" on the overseas elections.
While the turnout has been low, it is alot better than it would have been had there been no program at all. The group handling the elections did the best they could with only two months to do it.
I went to the polling place in New Carrolton, Maryland with our friend Nofel today to witness him voting in his first free Iraqi election. There were hundreds of Iraqis waiting in line to vote. Many of them had brought their families, even though the children could not vote.
It was quite emotional when Nofel emerged from the building with his index finger dyed purple. It was a dream come true for him, and so many others.
An election worker told me a story about one voter. Yesterday, an Iraqi man stood before the ballot box and held his completed ballot in the air. He said, in a loud voice in Arabic, as he thrust his ballot in the box, "F--- Saddam! F--- Bin laden! F--- Zarqawi! F--- the terrorists!"
BTTT
Bump and chills down my spine. Thanks Kristinn
Sure thing! I don't know if he did - I drifted off to sleep. But they archive the shows for a week.
Let us hope that the coverage of Iraqis voting will inspire election departments in this country to go for the purple ink method . . .
the photos of the expatriates voting are also encouraging us non-Iraqi Americans. Well done.
The good you guys do just amazes me. The media coverage of ecstatic Iraqis voting here was worth billions to those brave people (and to us).
thanks for all the work you do.
That 90 million dollars was not spent in vain. Reading the Iraqi bloggers, it seems that the Iraqis who saw the voter turnout and the tears of joy of the Iraqi expats got them excited about voting. I'm sure that a lot of the large turnout was due to the passion they saw on their TVs.
Ping!
By the way here is a must read :
Even in the Wake of Suicide Blast, 'They Didn't Want to Go Back Home' [Worth a read]
God bless you for all you did! And God bless all the others who helped you.
That last sentence needs to be read by everyone.
"This is worth repeating!"
Yes it is! D.C. FReepers ROCK!!! bttt
But the god they pray to can only do what the God of George W. Bush allows him to do.
Hillary's Marxist mentor, Saul Alinsky, opens his book "Rules for Radicals" with a quote extolling their god:
“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins -- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom ~ Lucifer.”
You think?
IRAQI LIBERATION PING!!!
Great story
But then, something happened. The Arab language networks showed the rally in Iraq. Requests were made for copies of the rally and soon a hand held camera version of the rally was being distributed on the Internet among Iraqis online.
What was said at the rally struck a chord with many Iraqis, such that the rally came to the attention of the highest levels of government there. One thing that caught their attention was the call by our friend Nofel Al-jazairi for the inclusion of Iraqi exiles in the upcoming Iraqi elections. After the rally, the government decided to establish the overseas voting program for the Iraqi exiles.
Awesome, purely awesome, kristinn. One thing that really stands out to me is that at first you didn't think the rally had gone so great, with a low turnout and no media reporting on it. You'd tried so hard, done your best, but that was it, nada.
And then it began snowballing past all hopes and made a wonderful difference in the lives of so many Iraqis.:D Good work....
kristinn, I have some photos of the Iraqi guests and various freepers at the FR ball. You probably have plenty, but if you would like to have these I can e-mail them to you.
And who says the Iraqis don't want freedom?
My thoughts exactly.
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