Posted on 01/30/2005 7:57:33 AM PST by kattracks
Preliminary reports that turnout in Sunday's Iraq election has topped 70 percent have surprised American reporters, many of whom had predicted that terrorists would succeed in sabotaging the U.S.- backed referendum."I have to say, it's going a lot better than I thought it would," Rod Nordland, Newsweek's Baghdad bureau chief, said Sunday as the numbers came in. "The attacks by the insurgents, while they're numerous, haven't reached that kind of critical threshold where it really kept everybody home," he told the Fox News Channel.
With an hour left to go before the polls in Iraq close, Reuters reported that turnout had reached 72 percent nationwide. Election officials in Shiite areas say turnout there may top 90 percent.
Initial voter response was slow as the polls opened late Saturday U.S. time, but increased dramatically after threats of spectacular attacks failed to materialize. Of 5300 polling stations, only 15 reported attacks. 29 people were killed, including five police officers.
"Once it seemed like the worst was over, [voters] came out in very large numbers," Nordland said. While Sunni turnout was lower, "it was a lot better than would have been expected."
I notice that Iraqi voters get a finger painted blue after they vote. If election fraud gets bad enough in this country we may have to start doing that.</p>
They weren't mystery candidates at all. That was our MSM concoction. Iraqi radio stations have been talking about candidates and the election non stop. Ditto their TV stations.
News Web-site Headlines on Iraq Elections 30 January 2005 | Vanity
Posted on 01/30/2005 9:44:00 AM EST by mark502inf
MSNBC: "A Bloody Start to Iraq's Elections"
FOXNEWS "A New Dawn of Democracy"
CNN "Iraqis Vote Amid Violence"
CNN INTERNATIONAL "Bombers Strike as Iraqis Vote"
BBC "Iraq Votes as Attacks Hit Baghdad"
Reuters "Iraq Vote Bloodied by Attacks"
CBS "Bombs on Iraq's Election Day"
ABC "Iraqis Defy Attackers in Historic Election"
I guess we'll be hearing the word "disenfranchised" any time now.
And then there's Massachusetts.
LET FREEDOM RING!!!!
Lol! Kerry said this morning on "Meet The Press" that he didn't think the 72% turnout was better than expected.
Boy, the cup is ever half empty with these people.
Harrigan went over to the other side some time ago. He is a doom and gloomer through and through. I can't wait to hear his spin because he will never admit he was wrong.
A freeper on another thread said the 36 people who died in attacks were all the suicide bombers and that the attacks themselves only injured the innocent.
Does anyone know anything about that?
Are you sure Nordland didn't say I HATE to say???????
As I suspected, FOX News and ABC are the most fair and balanced. ABC is getting better.
The press have always been imbeciles when it come to predicting things.
It looks like the terrorists have been "disenfranchised".
LOL
Syria - "hey, we found some ballots...."
Iran - "Yea, we found some, too!"
LVM
LOL, they are wrong again?
The Olde Media never gets it right. They said we couldn't win the war in Afghanistan, we couldn't get elections done in Afghanistan, we couldn't win the war in Iraq, we couldn't get the elections dine in Iraq...
Catching some reports from "Comrade-io" in passing, it was made to appear that since the Sunni turnout was low, the election results would not be "legitimate".
Whether it's 20% or 80% turnout in the Sunni areas, the elected representatives from that area of Iraq are going to be Sunni anyway.
Of course, in this country, when a single-party monopoly in any particular area (read: Dem) results in only 10% of voters coming out with the expected outcome, there wouldn't be any question of legitimacy...
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