The liberal MSM will still report the war as all but lost.
Posted on 10/15/2005 9:55:38 AM PDT by smoothsailing
Polls Close for Vote on Iraq Constitution
Staff and agencies
15 October, 2005
By HAMZA HENDAWI, 21 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq 's deeply divided Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds voted on a new constitution at heavily guarded polling stations Saturday in a referendum largely free of insurgent violence and aimed at establishing democracy after decades of Saddam Hussein 's repressive rule. But in Sunni regions — both in Baghdad and several key heavily Sunni provinces — the surprisingly high turnout seemed to consist largely of Iraqis voting "no" because of fears the charter would set in stone the Shiite domination they fear.
A day that U.S. and Iraqi leaders feared could turn bloody turned out to be the most peaceful in months.
The United States hopes the constitution will be approved so Iraqis can form a permanent, representative government and secure the country so Washington can start withdrawing its 150,000 troops. The Bush administration also sees success in the election as key to defeating the Sunni-led insurgency.
"This weekend's election is a critical step forward in Iraq's march toward democracy, and with each step the Iraqi people take, al-Qaida's vision for the region becomes more remote," President Bush said in his weekly radio address Saturday.
A top U.N. official told The Associated Press that turnout was very high in the predominantly Shiite Muslim south but low in the mostly Sunni Arab western province of Anbar, where insurgents are active. Carina Perelli, director of the Electoral Assistance Division of the United Nations , also said voter turnout was very steady in many other mostly Sunni regions, which boycotted legislative elections in January.
The Sunni Arab turnout was a dramatic change from January's parliamentary election, which most Sunnis boycotted. Now they were eager to cast ballots.
In the crucial northern city of Mosul, there was a constant flow of voters all day long into a kindergarten in a Sunni Arab neighborhood: men and women, dressed at their best in suits and ties or neatly pressed veils, many carrying young children in holiday clothes.
As polls closed at 5 p.m., many rounds of gunfire were heard in celebration and people were seen in some streets of Baghdad handing out sweets ahead of the end of the day's Ramadan fast.
In Baghdad, men counted votes by lanterns because the electricity was out. Results were written on a chalkboard. Outside, Iraqi soldiers huddled in a courtyard, breaking their fast.
Baqouba turnout is key because the city is in a province that is majority Sunni but has sizable Shiite and Kurdish communities. Sunni leaders have sent mixed signals about whether to support the charter.
The draft constitution can be defeated by either a simple majority or if two-thirds of voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces cast ballots against it. Rejection would be difficult because most of the majority Shiites and Kurds support the charter.
In a mostly Kurdish neighborhood of Mosul, Bahar Saleh supported the constitution.
"This constitution will at last give the Kurds their lost rights," the 34-year-old housewife said, coming from the polls with the red-and-green Kurdish flag wrapped around her body.
In the south, the heartland of Iraq's Shiites, some Shiite cities reported a higher turnout than the January vote. Top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani had urged his followers to turn out and support the charter.
"Today, I came to vote because I am tired of terrorists, and I want the country to be safe again," said Zeinab Sahib, a 30-year-old mother of three, one of the first voters at a school in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Karrada in Baghdad.
"This constitution means unity and hope."
American troops in Humvees rattled down Baghdad streets in patrols, while Iraqi soldiers and police ringed polling stations at schools and other public buildings protected by concrete barriers and barbed wire.
Iraqi soldiers armed with heavy machine guns looked over polling sites from nearby rooftops. U.S. troops in tanks and armored vehicles stood not far away as helicopters hovered overhead. Driving was banned to stop suicide car bombings by Sunni-led insurgents determined to wreck the vote.
The polls opened at 7 a.m., just hours after government workers restored power lines that insurgents sabotaged in the north Friday night, plunging the Iraqi capital and surrounding areas into darkness.
In the central Baghdad area of Khulani, where Sunnis and Shiites both live, a steady stream of voters entered a large polling station after being searched three times.
They included old men and women who could barely walk with canes, and young mothers wearing chadors and carrying infants. Other voters wore baggy traditional Kurdish dresses, and some youths were dressed in jeans. Within three hours of voting starting, at least a quarter of registered voters cast ballots in Baghdad's biggest Sunni Arab district, Azamiyah, where in January hardly a soul was seen in the January vote.
In Baghdad, President Jalal Talabani and al-Jaafari were shown live on Al-Iraqiya television voting in a hall in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where parliament and the U.S. Embassy are based.
"The constitution will pave the way for a national unity," al-Jaafari said. "I am optimistic that the Iraqis will say yes.'
At Iraq's approximately 6,100 polling stations, voters marked their paper ballot "yes" or "no" under one question, written in Arabic and Kurdish: "Do you agree on the permanent constitution project?"
After placing the ballots in the plastic boxes at the polling centers, the Iraqis had the forefinger of their right hands marked with violet ink to prevent repeat voting.
The country's Shiite majority — some 60 percent of its estimated 27 million people — and the Kurds — another 20 percent — support the approximately 140-article charter, which provides them with autonomy in the northern and southern regions where they are concentrated.
The Sunni Arab minority, which dominated the country under Saddam and forms the backbone of the insurgency, widely opposes the draft, convinced its federalist system will tear the country into Shiite and Kurdish mini-states in the south and north, leaving Sunnis in an impoverished center.
Many of them believe the document does not sufficiently support Iraq's Arab character.
Last-minute amendments to the constitution, adopted Wednesday, promise Sunnis the chance to try to change the charter more deeply later, prompting one Sunni Arab group — the Iraqi Islamic Party — to support the draft. Most others reject it.
There are four provinces where Sunni Arab opponents hope to galvanize opposition to the charter: Anbar, Ninevah, Salahuddin and Diyala, all with Sunni majorities. But all of those except Anbar also have significant Shiite and Kurdish populations mixed in.
Competition was at its fiercest in those areas. In the Salahuddin town of Tikrit, which is overwhelmingly Sunni Arab, some 17,000 voters turned out by noon.
But turnout also appeared high in mainly Shiite towns and districts elsewhere in the province.
"I believe this constitution will secure women on a lot of issues and will give them a good representation in the National Assembly," Muna Ali said.
In much of the vastly Sunni Arab Anbar province — the main battlefield between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi troops — residents remained huddled in their homes. Few voted, either because they feared militant reprisals or were too bitter about the constitution to participate. Ramadi, Anbar's capital, looked like a ghost town, with empty streets. At the hour polls opened, insurgents clashed with U.S. troops in the downtown streets.
Only about 70 people had voted in the Anbar town of Haditha, northwest of Baghdad, by midday. Said Ahmad Fliha walked up the hill to the fortified polling station with the help of a relative and Iraqi soldier.
"I'm 75 years old. Everything is finished for me. But I'm going to vote because I want a good future for my children," Fliha said.
AP: With great sadness we report that our allies the terrorists could not stop millions of Iraqis from voting. However we are still hoping that the Constitution draft will be defeated.
A day that MSM hoped would turn bloody turned out to be the most peaceful in months.
Official: Voter turnout in Iraq is mixed
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer
http://www.bakersfield.com/24hour/world/story/2805810p-11441400c.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Voting in Iraq's predominantly Shiite Muslim south was very high in Saturday's constitutional referendum, but turnout in Anbar, the mostly Sunni Arab province where insurgents are active, was low because of fears of violence, a U.N. official said.
Carina Perelli, director of the Electoral Assistance Division of the United Nations, said she had not yet heard about voting in the heavily Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.
"The report that we have right now basically is the voting in the south is ... extremely high," Perelli told The Associated Press just after the polls closed at 5 p.m.
"The early indication is that the voting Anbar is extremely low because of the special circumstance of that province," she said.
Perelli said voter turnout was very steady in many other mostly Sunni regions, which boycotted legislative elections in January.
She could not give exact turnout figures or any indication of vote results.
Ratification of the constitution, which was strongly favored by the Shiite majority and Kurds, requires approval by a majority of voters nationwide. However, if two-thirds of voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote "no," the charter will be defeated, and Sunni Arabs had a chance of swinging the ballot in four volatile provinces, including Anbar.
Perelli said there had been far fewer insurgent attacks than expected at the thousands of heavily protected polling stations across Iraq.
"It has been very peaceful," she said.
It's days like this that I have complete trust in President Bush. Go Harriet Meiers!
The liberal MSM will still report the war as all but lost.
I heard on Fox yesterday that Saddam H. failed to exercise his right to vote.
I'm sure, at this very moment, the MSM is working on a way to spin this so they can blame it on Bush.
You gotta love them, though. The security manages to keep the violence under control and the first thing AP does is start questioning whether all the security was necessary.
Old dog, old tricks.
There is no value to the MSM in this story.
If there are ZERO DEAD AMERICAN SOLDIERS and ZERO SOLDIER SCREW UPS it is not newsworthy.
This election does not fit into the Daily MSM - DEAD FAILURE REPORT from IRAQ.
Looks like security and turn out elsewhere was solid. Let's hope it passed.
When I see things like that I feel like channeling Howeird Dean's infamous scream.
"It's days like this that I have complete trust in President Bush. Go Harriet Meiers!"
I totally support Bush on Iraq, but I think he really screwed the pooch in picking Miers. I don't see any linkage.
BTW, if you're going to support her, at least spell her name correctly. I know, her writing doesn't set the greatest example... but at least her problem is with grammar, not spelling.
Cindy Sheehan is deeply saddened, saddened.
"I'm 75 years old. Everything is finished for me. But I'm going to vote because I want a good future for my children," Fliha said.
He gets it.
With deep wailing and knashing of teeth from anti-democratic Leftists everywhere!
And once again, the Sunnis cut themselves out of democracy by failing to understand how it works.
Seems Lawrence of Arabia was partially right - *some* Arabs do not understand or want democracy. Fortunately, the vast majority in Iraq get the concept.
I don't know about the Shariah law question.
But, it's just one province, and alone can't affect the outcome.
Like you, I have high hopes for passage.This news article is very encouraging.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.