| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Early Iraqi Blogger reports on Election progress |
| 2005-10-15 |
| Iraq the Model: 11:01 Okay, weâre about to go to cast our votes now and then weâll hopefully be posting updates but for now, the spokesman of the Iraqi electoral independent commission said in a press conference a few minutes ago that no sizable attacks were reported so far except for some gunfire in Al-Dora district near one voting office. Actually, Baghdad sounds so quiet so far. Updates (2:45 pm local time): -An official of the electoral commission announced that voters in any given province can cast their votes at any station within the borders of that province; this can make reaching the stations easier for some people who live far from their originally designated stations. -Another electoral commissionâs official in Erbil said that turnout in Erbil is light so far and he attributed that to the âconcessions made by the Kurdish parties which Kurdish voters did not see appropriateâ. -170,000 votes were cast in the first 3 hours in Kirkuk, thatâs around one quarter of the registered voters in the city. -One attack was reported in Hilla; three armed men attacked a voting office but Iraqi security men were able to arrest the attackers. Nothing reported damaged in the office, one attacker was shot in the foot! -Voting stations in Tal Afar are open but no reports on the turnout in the town, however the local officials of the electoral commission in Mosul said that the number of voters who turned out in the city is a âsurpriseâ. Just said my YES...(updated) Probably the worst thing today is the intense heat which was a little over 100f but that didnât stop the crowds from walking in the sun to the voting stations, I personally had to walk nearly 4 miles in total but itâs definitely worth the effort. The presence of Iraqi army and police units is heavier than it was in January elections and I also noticed that no multinational forces were on the streets and the only sign for their presence was the helicopters that patrolled the skies. The turnout in our district looks quiet good and actually going to the voting office was a good opportunity to meet some friends I havenât seen in months. I met one friend on the way and when I asked him what would his vote be he said that he hasnât decided yet âif I voted yes I would be approving some articles that I donât agree with and if I voted no we would go back to where we started fromâŠâ he said and that was really refreshing because this guy who used to believe in conspiracy theories and stuff like âwhat America wants is whatâs going to happenâ now feels that his vote can make a difference. Generally speaking, the process is going smoothly so far and this is encouraging because terrorists usually concentrate their attacks before noon so hopefully it will continue like this for the rest of the day. Hammorabi Historic Day in Iraq Voting by Yes or No for the constitution is in progress now in all parts of Iraq. The number of voters exceeded the expected limits especially in areas like Mosel which had low turn out in the last election. Voting stations received large numbers in the Sunni areas including Ramadi, Falluja and Diyala. No major problems until now and the voters are free to cast their votes. This is the first time for the Iraqis to vote for their own constitution. It is indeed the first time in the Middle East especially the Arab countries. We expect a big YES for the constitution possibly around 80%. This YES is a big bullet in the head of the terrorism. This is a historic day and the political process moving forward in spite of the efforts of all of the evils to disable or delay it. |
| Posted by:DanNY |
| #18 Don't know about that,TW.You seem to hang purrty good with hard boys here. |
| Posted by: raptor 2005-10-15 21:01 |
| #17 TE - It's not about the MSM - it's about the trolls. It's called the Good News Law. RC called it long ago - and it pans out to be true with such regularity that it's now an acknowledged law of Moonbat behavior. RC can state it better, I'm sure, but essentially it goes: When there's too much good news or an especially important Good News event, some unknown threshold of Moonbat hysteria is breached, the Moonbats come out of the woodwork to troll. The MSM always ignores or tries to trash Good News - that's a given. It's the resulting troll behavior that's of interest and what RC noted. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-15 17:13 |
| #16 Awesome. LTC Kurilla's Deuce-Four certainly helped turn Mosul around. Too bad those people will probably never even know his name. Certainly not if they depend upon the MSM, which will likely underplay and spin today however they think they can to meet the agenda. Thank You (shukran) and You're Welcome (afwan), Iraqis and coalition forces. This is, indeed, another great milestone. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-15 08:40 |
| #15 Sorry, my mistake Trailing Wife. LoL |
| Posted by: God Save The World AKA Oztralian 2005-10-15 21:57 |
| #14 Just trailing wife, Oztralian. I'm not brave enough to be a soldier's bride. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-10-15 20:40 |
| #13 To Red Dog... Yes, eventually the family pics will be sorted from the military ones. I know it is a little annoying browsing through the pics with them all mixed up, but it will change. And to Military Wife: Thanks for your suggestion, i'll take your advice. |
| Posted by: God Save The World AKA Oztralian 2005-10-15 20:11 |
| #12 Oztralian, thanks much for sharing your website. Why not put the link as your website, then we can keep track as you update it? And hearty thanks to your friend's nephew and his fellows for their service -- today we see the result. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-10-15 19:09 |
| #11 CNN had some ME woman on as their "expert" this morning and the meme was that the people didn't know what they were voting on. Yep, they found two who didn't know. See, the average Iraqi is just too dumb to have freedom. We don't know this because we are just "average Americans". But, fortunately, the elite at CNN will help educate us. Did I say they were idjits? Yes, yes I believe I did. |
| Posted by: Remoteman 2005-10-15 17:24 |
| #10 Democracy? Iraq? Maybe they'll vote Saddam back in. |
| Posted by: Bardo 2005-10-15 17:10 |
| #9 Robert, why are you picking on the MSM again? |
| Posted by: Throgum Elmoluse7582 2005-10-15 17:05 |
| #8 Brace yourselves for the trollstorm, folks. The failure of the terrorists means the filth column here at home will feel the need to fill in. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-10-15 15:48 |
| #7 Just note that i am still working on the website Thanks, God Save The World AKA Oztralian..will you eventually divide Mil-pics from Family pics? |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-10-15 15:26 |
| #6 You Just know that the MSM and the Donks don't consider anything less then 120% (see King Co. Washington) turnout to be 'legitimate'. Bush better come out and simply BEAT THEM WITH IT! |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-10-15 14:22 |
| #5 FoxNews reporter in Tikrit said %90 turnout there. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-10-15 12:54 |
| #4 My friends nephew just got back from Iraq and Afghanistan and i'm setting up a website with all the pictures he took while he was over there. If anyone is interested in taking a look, feel free. Just note that i am still working on the website so some images may be a little slow loading. The Link is below: TRAVIS'S WEBSITE Sorry for posting this in here. I didn't know where else to put it. I'm still getting familiar with this great site.... |
| Posted by: God Save The World AKA Oztralian 2005-10-15 12:46 |
| #3 The one that's really important is the one some guy on a white horse tries to stop. If he succeeds, it's down the tubes. Otherwise, any mistakes can be fixed at the next election. |
| Posted by: Ebbaimble Shinert7637 2005-10-15 12:02 |
| #2 Yes TW, and after that vote, which by then won't be important, the REALLY important one will be for the municipal posts like dog cathcher. Idjits. |
| Posted by: Remoteman 2005-10-15 11:48 |
| #1 The MSM have already been saying for days that no matter how well it goes, this is not the important vote, the one that matters is the vote for Parliament in December. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-10-15 10:36 |