That is some quote. Quite an image it gives my mind.
Does it bring this image to mind?
Posted on 10/15/2005 12:07:24 PM PDT by freedom44
BAGHDAD - Iraq’s deeply divided Shias, Sunnis and Kurds voted under heavy guard on Saturday to decide the fate of a new constitution aimed at establishing democracy after more than two decades of Saddam Hussein’s repressive rule.
A day that US and Iraqi leaders feared could turn bloody turned out to be the most peaceful in months.
Insurgents attacked five of Baghdad’s 1,200 polling stations with shootings and bombs, wounding seven voters. But the only deaths were those of three Iraqi soldiers in a roadside bomb far from a polling site, and there were no major attacks reported as US and Iraqi forces clamped down with major security measures around balloting sites.
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.
In the south, Shia women in head-to-toe veils and men emerged from the poll stations flashing victory signs with fingers stained with purple ink, apparently responding in mass to the call by their top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, to support the charter.
“Once the constitution is stable, the country will be stable,” Rajaa Mohammed Abbas, a 35-year-old Shia woman, said after voting “yes” in the southern city of Karbala, where crowds of people marched after casting ballots, chanting “yes, yes to the constitution.”
But in Sunni areas in Baghdad and several key heavily Sunni provinces, a surprisingly high turnout in some areas seemed to consist largely of Iraqis voting “no” because of fears the new constitution would mean setting in stone the Shia domination they fear.
The Sunni Arab turnout was a dramatic change from January parliamentary election, which most Sunnis boycotted. Now they were eager to cast ballots, which could make the race tighter than expected.
“This is all wrong. I said ’no’ to a constitution written by the Americans,” said Jilan Shaker, 22, a laborer who showed up at a polling station in Baghdad’s Azamiyah district polling station in shorts and plastic sandals.
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.
A top UN official told The Associated Press that turnout was very high in the predominantly Shia 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.
Voters at the country’s 6,100 polling stations 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, the Iraqis had the forefinger of their right hands marked with violet ink.
A few Sunni leaders called for a “yes” vote after last-minute changes were made in the draft, but most urged their voters to oppose.
When polls closed at 5 p.m., celebratory gunfire was heard in Baghdad. Families handed out sweets to passers-by in the street ahead of the end of the day’s Ramadan fast about an hour later.
Vote counting began immediately. In Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, a handful of men sat around long tables with lanterns, putting “yes” votes in one pile and “no” votes in another.
Baqouba turnout is key because the city is in a province that is majority Sunni but has sizable Shia and Kurdish communities.
There are four provinces where Sunni Arab opponents are hoping to make that threshold: Anbar, Ninevah, Salahuddin and Diyala, all with Sunni majorities. But all of those except Anbar also have significant Shia and Kurdish populations mixed in who the opponents must outweigh to reach two-thirds.
So competition was at its fiercest in those areas, with all sides drumming out voters.
“The government can’t just sew together an outfit and dress the people up by force. We do not see ourselves or see our future in this draft,” said Gazwan Abdul Sattar, 27-year-old Sunni teacher in Mosul after voting “no” in Nivevah’s capital, Mosul.
But in a nearby mostly Kurdish neighborhood of the city, Bahar Saleh gave her support to 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 Salahuddin province, just north of Baghdad, turnout may have been as high as 75 percent, local election officials said. In the Sunni Arab town of Tikrit - Saddam’s birthplace, hundreds rushed to the polls in the last minute to make the closing of polls and get home in time for the breaking of the fast.
But turnout also appeared high in mainly Shia towns and districts elsewhere in the province.
In Baghdad, 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. US 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.
“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 Shia neighborhood of Karrada in Baghdad. “This constitution means unity and hope.”
They are scrambling in real time to redefine defeat to maintain political status.
I'm sure their busily working on their talking points for tomorrow morning. It'll be something along the lines of "We're pleased with the turnout BUT monkey...."
You know, aside from the fact that it is a very hopeful sign of a monumental shift in the politics of the region, you would think they could cover this story out of respect for those young Americans who have been killed and injured bringing about this victory.
LET FREEDOM REIGN!
Some interesting updates:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/international/middleeast/16iraq.html
Voting centers were also set up in the American-run prisons at Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca for some 13,000 detainees, many of them suspected insurgents. There was even a polling station at Camp Cropper, where Mr. Hussein is incarcerated. There was no word on whether he had cast a ballot.
LOL
Are these results statistically possible?:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BA9FB67F-74A2-4609-AED5-8BEAE587CC9A.htm
At the Sajdat voting centre in Najaf province, the director said that of 3125 registered voters 2099 had voted. All but 30 had voted "Yes" - an approval of more than 98%.
In Miqdadiya, in Diyala province north of Baghdad, the head of Konoz polling centre said 2166 voters were registered, of whom only 366 turned up, 299 of them voting "No" and 67 "Yes".
In Yathreb, a Sunni Arab town north of Baghdad, 3500 people voted, with 3497 of them voting "No" and just three "Yes".
Although the votes are cast on paper.
Interestingly enough, although admittedly there aren't that many pictures of this, every photo I've seen of a voter actually putting pen to paper, the person is voting yes.
Not only possible, but highly probable. In small towns, in the Mid-East, people are likely to register and vote almost as a 'block'.
Operation Iraqi Freedom - began March 19, 2003
Election to ratify constitution for a democratic Iraq - October 14, 2005
That's two years and seven months.
US Declaration of Independence - July 4, 1776
Completion of US Constitution - September 17, 1787 (took effect 1789)
That's eleven years and two months. (I could have begun with the Boston Tea Party which would have added another three years.)
http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2005/10/how_short_it_ha.php
That is some quote. Quite an image it gives my mind.
Does it bring this image to mind?
It IS Bush's fault,
It WAS Bush's fault,
It SHALL BE Bush's fault.
I think that just about covers it.
Those kind of results may well be possible.
How could this have happened?
I thought it was all chaos, bombs, and anti-democracy over there, not mention quagmire, vietnam deja-vu, etc.....
Man, I'll never listen to the main stream media as the sole source of real, true information...
what a bunch of idiot losers the MSM is...give 'em their
paycheck and tell them to get lost
Not only possible, but highly probable. In small towns, in the Mid-East, people are likely to register and vote almost as a 'block'.
----
I understand what you're saying, but 3497 'no' votes out of 3500 voters is 99.91%. I'd think that voter 'error' would be higher than that, notwithstanding that I doubt that many people could agree on anything...
I'm sure the Obsolete Media will be all over this.
'..where was Jimmy Carter..'
Good question! But, whatever rock he's hiding under, let's hope he stays there. It's bad enough that, recently, Fox has taken to having Marvin Kalb and Stansfield Turner join the ranks of Weasley Clark and Bob Beckel as "commentators", heaven help us if Carter starts appearing.
Ohio, I got home and immediately turned on Fox to hear about the vote turnout......and I'm faced with Marvin Kalb!
Off went Fox...lately, a lot of libs are turning up on Fox. I'm tired of being angry at the Dims and disgraceful biased media....listening to more music....and getting my news from FR!
ABSOLUTELY!!! We have people who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this day! The rest is everyday crap compared to this.
'Dems and MSM will have tough morning tomorrow'
Oh, don't be concerned.....they'll make up something and you can be sure it will be President Bush's fault!
God bless the Iraqi people for their courage in going out to vote, despite the dangers and GOD BLESS PRESIDENT BUSH FOR GIVING THESE BRAVE PEOPLE THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE ON THEIR FUTURE.
You'd think at least Fox News would recognize that, and give it the attention it deserves.
It's a pleasant change from media bias. :)
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