This guy doesn't get it yet. Or maybe he's got his eye on becoming mayor of Chicago, where there is a long tradition of this sort of thing, unfortunately.
The election seemed to go pretty well in Najaf, as well. The worst thing that happened wasn't anything like a terror attack, but a bit of malfeasance by the governor.Our correspondent there spoke to local human rights chief Talleb Al Zayyadi.
"It is a great day for Iraq, a new Iraq, a great Iraq, without Saddam Hussein, an Iraq looked upon by all people of the world, a democratic Iraq. We witnessed today a big and unexpected turnout of Iraqi voters to the polls. Things are going to the better, but there are some negative things that happened today. I am sorry to say these are done by certain persons, in particular the Governor of An Najaf who took advantage of his position to do all what he can to promote the list No. 254 of which he is the leader, thelist of Al Wafaa. He used all these capabilities for his advertising campaign and even today, he rented more than 400 cars to transport voters to and from voting centers to vote for his list."
Sounds like the governor hired an election consultant from New Orleans to help with his campaign. That's how this red state ends up with a Democratic governor and a Democratic senator, both with strong New Orleans ties...
If it works here, it'll work in Iraq...
That is minor and expected in the U.S., what's the big deal?
Besides, I thought that the military and the Iraqi security banned cars during the election?
Is there something else going on here??
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
Not a big deal, just wanted to give the full story going on in Iraq (not just the good parts).
One thing did strike me in this account: the Iraqi human rights monitor seemed to have a balanced view of the incident: inappropriate, against the rules, but not a huge impediment.
THAT moderate, reasoned reaction is a BIG deal.
that's a good sign. already bickering about stealing elections. a very good sign.
You miss the point, rather badly. The observer was NOT bickering about the results, even while noting a flaw in the process in that one town.
Keep trying, though - I'm sure you can find bad news there somewhere .....
I watched the overnight coverage flipping between MSNBC and Fox; CNN coverage kicked in later, after the polls had closed.
I was surprised at how positive the MSM coverage - the enthusiasm of the Iraqis was infectious and swept the reporters along. You could feel it. Christian Amanpour, Jane Araf, Anderson Cooper, all gave very emotional and upbeat reports.
MSNBC had Jeff Jarvis on reporting on the blogs. He read from that "Iraq the Model" post which Robin linked below. There was a guy from Al Arabiya on who was very positive.
I almost never watch the Sunday talk shows, can't sit through them. I think I'll make an exception today.
It's the purple fingers of freedom day in Iraq!
They did what some say couldn't be done. Those same people now will yawn and say whas next?
Like, john kerry on msnbc, his "thats nice, but... " crud.
ugh
I'll let Mohammed and Omar reply:
The people actually affected most directly have no doubts about the validity of this election, its importance -- or of the work remaining to be done.
I am absolutely humbled by the Iraqis. In the US, "disenfranchisement" means having to wait in line in the rain in Ohio. In Iraq...well... Will we Americans learn from the heroism of Iraqis today? Let's all support these incredible people by marking our fingers with purple markers this week (see Andrew Sullivan and Instapundit)! Absolutely incredible!
I guess there are democrats in Iraq too.