Iraq Election 2005
Coverage on Iraqi Election around the web
Pictures from Voting Stations (Hammorabi - Blog)
"In Kurdistan and Iraq now, people check each others index finger, "Oh you have a normal finger ?!! How come it is not blue ?! You are NOT democratic at all" (Kurdo's World - Blog)
""But if the insurgents wanted to stop people in Baghdad from voting, they failed. If they wanted to cause chaos, they failed. The voters were completely defiant, and there was a feeling that the people of Baghdad, showing a new, positive attitude, had turned a corner.
No one was claiming that the insurgency was over or that the deadly attacks would end. But the atmosphere in this usually grim capital, a city at war and an ethnic microcosm of the country, had changed, with people dressed in their finest clothes to go to the polls in what was generally a convivial mood.
" (NYTimes)
"
At least 44 people were reported killed in suicide bombings, shootings and mortar and rocket attacks. But for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003, the haggard capital and parts of Iraq took on the veneer of a festival, as crowds danced, chanted and played soccer in streets secured by the most relentless security crackdown in memory. From the Kurdish north to the largely Shiite south, at thousands of polling stations, voters delivered a similar message: The election represented their moment to seize their future, and reject a legacy of dictatorship and the bloodshed and hardship that has followed the U.S. invasion. " (WashingtonPost)
"We would love to share what we did this morning with the whole world, we can't describe the feelings we've been through but we'll try to share as much as we can with you.We woke up this morning one hour before the alarm clock was supposed to ring. As a matter of fact, we barely slept at all last night out of excitement and anxiety." (Iraq The Model - Blog)
"I chose to cast my vote in Amman this very day, even though Iraqi exiles have been voting here since Friday. Voter turnout in Jordan was exceptionally lower than in other countries and I was quite surprised to hear some of the same rumours that infest Baghdad repeated over here in Amman. " (Healing Iraq - Blog)
"The first multi-party election in Iraq for 50 years has been declared a success at the end of polling. "(BBC)
"Iraq's Shia Muslims and Kurds have turned out in force for the country�??s first elections since the toppling of Saddam Hussein. The insurgents have failed in their bid to wreck the elections, though they are unlikely to go away soon " (Economist)
"YES,YES, I did it. I have the courage to do it." (Rose Baghdad - Blog)
"I didn't vote, neither I will. Why? I'm 16, er. Not old enough to vote, I'm taking advantage of my age, always.. And because it's not safe at all :" (A star from Mosul - Blog)
"What a day it has been. I am very tired, but I am at peace, something I havn't felt in this regard before. I am happy to report that I found very few people during my post-voting trip through Baghdad who had not voted. I even got a few to "convert" and go out and vote. When confronted with the fact that staying away from voting was futile, some who had opposed the election relented, and went and made their mark. " (Democracy in Iraq - Blog)
"The voting center that was chosen in our district is a high school in the middle of the Neighborhood . This was the same place I went in 1996 to cast my vote in a poll asking if we wanted to have Saddam as a president for life or not. I had to go at that time. The threats for anyone who refused to take that poll were no less than the death penalty. Still our district was one of the places were one could vote secretly, occasionally though. They trusted our neighborhood because it's mainly Sunni military officers who live here with their families. I and some of my friends chose "NO" but we were scared to death as we marked the paper and remained so for days."(Free Iraqi - Blog)
"With the voting booths closed, election day in Iraq came to an end.
Anti-occupation rebels had previously stated they would step up their bomb attacks which resulted in the death of nearly 44 people, including four policeman and 2 U.S. soldiers.
According to officials, the turnout amongst the 14 million eligible voters appeared higher than the 57 percent which had been predicted. However, it will be some time before the final turnout figure will be confirmed." (Al Jazeera)
"Millions of Iraqis defied a surge of bombings and suicide attacks yesterday to go to the polls in greater than expected numbers for the first democratic elections for 50 years. The electoral commission's provisional estimate of turnout was 57%. " (The Guardian)
"Ammar al Dujaili looked at the chest-high stacks of books around him and pulled out a dusty tome with Arabic calligraphy on the cover. �??This book, �??Mafatih al Janan�?? (Keys of Heaven), got me a five-month prison sentence,�?? said Dujaili, 43, shaking his head. �??Saddam Hussein even fought concepts and ideas.�?? The religious books that Dujaili now sells openly at his shop, located in the winding alleys surrounding the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, landed him in jail for four years. His bitter experience under the former regime made him passionate about having a say in shaping the next government. �??I was the first voter,�?? said Dujaili, wagging an ink-stained finger as proof of his vote. �??I was standing next to the polling station at 6 a.m.�?? (Newsweek)
Pictures from Voting Stations (Hammorabi - Blog)
"In Kurdistan and Iraq now, people check each others index finger, "Oh you have a normal finger ?!! How come it is not blue ?! You are NOT democratic at all" (Kurdo's World - Blog)
""But if the insurgents wanted to stop people in Baghdad from voting, they failed. If they wanted to cause chaos, they failed. The voters were completely defiant, and there was a feeling that the people of Baghdad, showing a new, positive attitude, had turned a corner.
No one was claiming that the insurgency was over or that the deadly attacks would end. But the atmosphere in this usually grim capital, a city at war and an ethnic microcosm of the country, had changed, with people dressed in their finest clothes to go to the polls in what was generally a convivial mood.
" (NYTimes)
"
At least 44 people were reported killed in suicide bombings, shootings and mortar and rocket attacks. But for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003, the haggard capital and parts of Iraq took on the veneer of a festival, as crowds danced, chanted and played soccer in streets secured by the most relentless security crackdown in memory. From the Kurdish north to the largely Shiite south, at thousands of polling stations, voters delivered a similar message: The election represented their moment to seize their future, and reject a legacy of dictatorship and the bloodshed and hardship that has followed the U.S. invasion. " (WashingtonPost)
"We would love to share what we did this morning with the whole world, we can't describe the feelings we've been through but we'll try to share as much as we can with you.We woke up this morning one hour before the alarm clock was supposed to ring. As a matter of fact, we barely slept at all last night out of excitement and anxiety." (Iraq The Model - Blog)
"I chose to cast my vote in Amman this very day, even though Iraqi exiles have been voting here since Friday. Voter turnout in Jordan was exceptionally lower than in other countries and I was quite surprised to hear some of the same rumours that infest Baghdad repeated over here in Amman. " (Healing Iraq - Blog)
"The first multi-party election in Iraq for 50 years has been declared a success at the end of polling. "(BBC)
"Iraq's Shia Muslims and Kurds have turned out in force for the country�??s first elections since the toppling of Saddam Hussein. The insurgents have failed in their bid to wreck the elections, though they are unlikely to go away soon " (Economist)
"YES,YES, I did it. I have the courage to do it." (Rose Baghdad - Blog)
"I didn't vote, neither I will. Why? I'm 16, er. Not old enough to vote, I'm taking advantage of my age, always.. And because it's not safe at all :" (A star from Mosul - Blog)
"What a day it has been. I am very tired, but I am at peace, something I havn't felt in this regard before. I am happy to report that I found very few people during my post-voting trip through Baghdad who had not voted. I even got a few to "convert" and go out and vote. When confronted with the fact that staying away from voting was futile, some who had opposed the election relented, and went and made their mark. " (Democracy in Iraq - Blog)
"The voting center that was chosen in our district is a high school in the middle of the Neighborhood . This was the same place I went in 1996 to cast my vote in a poll asking if we wanted to have Saddam as a president for life or not. I had to go at that time. The threats for anyone who refused to take that poll were no less than the death penalty. Still our district was one of the places were one could vote secretly, occasionally though. They trusted our neighborhood because it's mainly Sunni military officers who live here with their families. I and some of my friends chose "NO" but we were scared to death as we marked the paper and remained so for days."(Free Iraqi - Blog)
"With the voting booths closed, election day in Iraq came to an end.
Anti-occupation rebels had previously stated they would step up their bomb attacks which resulted in the death of nearly 44 people, including four policeman and 2 U.S. soldiers.
According to officials, the turnout amongst the 14 million eligible voters appeared higher than the 57 percent which had been predicted. However, it will be some time before the final turnout figure will be confirmed." (Al Jazeera)
"Millions of Iraqis defied a surge of bombings and suicide attacks yesterday to go to the polls in greater than expected numbers for the first democratic elections for 50 years. The electoral commission's provisional estimate of turnout was 57%. " (The Guardian)
"Ammar al Dujaili looked at the chest-high stacks of books around him and pulled out a dusty tome with Arabic calligraphy on the cover. �??This book, �??Mafatih al Janan�?? (Keys of Heaven), got me a five-month prison sentence,�?? said Dujaili, 43, shaking his head. �??Saddam Hussein even fought concepts and ideas.�?? The religious books that Dujaili now sells openly at his shop, located in the winding alleys surrounding the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, landed him in jail for four years. His bitter experience under the former regime made him passionate about having a say in shaping the next government. �??I was the first voter,�?? said Dujaili, wagging an ink-stained finger as proof of his vote. �??I was standing next to the polling station at 6 a.m.�?? (Newsweek)
posted by Dody G. at 1:29 AM
5 Comments:
Why Insurgents might be the winners: Iraq's Shi'ites see themselves as winners in Sunday's elections. So do the Kurds, who are getting bold in their political demands. For its part, the US counts on sustained Kurdish-Shi'ite cooperation in the post-election environment. If this arrangement falters - and there are myriad reasons why it could - there can be only one winner: the insurgents. (Asia Times)
12:51 AM
I think it is interesting to read the first hand accounts of voters in Iraq, yet not many of them talk about whether they are Shi'ites or Kurds. Instead, they only call themselves free Iraqis. Digs, stop looking at all that is negative or possibly negative and have some hope for the future of the world.
1:47 AM
Dody, thanks for all the links. The first hand accounts are great, but the pics are truly amazing...just seeing these people's faces...like Tom said, it's priceless.
Ditto the have hope comment. =)
2:02 AM
Alf, you missed my point.
1:53 PM
I've actually thought a lot about this topic lately. I hope for the best, too. It's hard to know what is really going on over there. Is it legit? Do the people really believe in it? I guess I'm just skeptical, it seems to me that if democracy is truly going to happen it should start from the ground up...by the people...like what just happened in Ukraine..where the masses grow tired of being oppressed and begin to rise up and demand more..Can democracy be brought about through the barrel of a gun? There have been instances in Asia that might suggest the latter, but this is the Middle East..completely different factors are at play here...perhaps it can be planted, and I guess it's just such a big gamble one can't help but sit back and watch in pure amazement..it's a poli-sci lab experiment..and I don't think anyone knows what is really going to happen..I wasn't for the war but I do kind of tip my hat to the optimism that some Americans have toward a better life (some may say naively) for people. It's a can-do attitude that I see in America a lot..the dreaming..It's the American arrogance of the whole war that makes most upset I think (that and all the underlying intentions that could be used as reasons for going to war other than freedom and democracy for Iraqis).
One of my friends (Joel) who is Republican compared GW Bush and the democratization of Iraq like playing the lotto. The chances for winning the peace and avoiding a civil war may be low, but if he does manage to pull it off, ironically he'll be one of the greatest presidents of all time. Ha! I know that makes some sick. But think about it: Europe is choosing self extinction and muslims are quickly filling their places in western europe..that is to say the Middle East is in effect becoming larger...the values are so different that there are already clashes between the cultures (Van Gogh killed in Netherlands, Scarf bans in France, and I've personally paid witness to anti-arabic sentiment by Europeans who feel like they're being invaded by the muslims..don't worry none, were AIESECers;)
And I guess that's the ultimate question..sit back and admire the problem..or standing up and doing something about it..In terms of the latter GW Bush went about it completely the wrong way..but I guess that's to be expected from a man who really doesn't understand the world in which he lives in...he never traveled before he became President!
Being an employee of the Federal Government, I can tell you it's biggest problem is the beaurcracy..it's so enormous...change takes place not in days, months, or even years..but decades. The people in power today are thinking with a mindset that is at least 20 years old (saying things like, "God Bless America" all the time..in which it sounds like we don't care about God Blessing anyone else)...anyway, the point to this rambling is that hopefully by the time our generation comes to power there will be enough of us...enough globally minded individuals to actually make positive change and look beyond the constraints of thinking so nationalistically..but perhaps I'm dreaming...besides once we get to power our offspring we'll probably claim we're out of touch;)
The world is shrinking so rapidly, so we're experiencing growing pains naturally. People are just now being able to (very quickly I might add) see what others are doing and ways of life that might conflict with their values. With that being said, I'm optimistic for the future, that we'll be able to live as one. Of course living in peace and coexisting side by side...well that would basically deny the entire history of mankind now wouldn't it;) Perhaps our children's children's children's children's children's children.
So, I agree with Alf and Digs. I don't think people need to be on one side or the other. It's important to have optimism, but it's also equally important to be brutally honest with yourself. Seems Americans would prefer a pleasant lie than the awful truth. Others would remain content with exercising a type of cultural relativism that remains indifferent to human suffering and oppression.
7:50 PM
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