yee haw - Elections in Iraq

”Who says we should have elections for people we don't even know during occupation, martial law and in a war zone,” he said. ”And why vote when we're expected to vote for an entire list of candidates when we only know, if we're lucky, one or two of their names?” http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/hard_news/000185.php#more

Hey - great news. As all the cable news shows saturation coverage have been telling folks - some people in Iraq were finally told where to walk (auto travel being prohibited) http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/22/iraq.main/ went out and cast their ballots for secret candidates on lists of parties who don't plan to reveal their platforms until after the voting has finished. http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0113/p01s03-woiq.html

But it was a great victory - people who found out where the polling stations were and could hoof it to the 'historic' sites could go play eeni meeni miini moh and vote for ?? or ????. Hell, the U.S. congress has set the precedent that you don't need to know what the hell you're voting for to engage in the democratic process. It's historic. A milestone. No more forced voting for a single party under the cloud of an intimidating domestic military dictatorship. Shit yeah, now they finally had a ballot of 7000 or so unknown candidates to choose from under the cloud of a foreign military occupation.

And hey, there are plenty of folks who haven't been in Iraq for decades, or children of the same who never have set foot on Iraqi soil (many who have no plans to ever do so ) who cast ballots. Were the foreign voters provided with electoral information that the Iraqis were denied? or were they voting for a blind slate as well? Again, it doesn't matter if people have any idea what they are voting for, just so they go thru the motions IT IS A HISTORIC MOMENT!!!! And those who weren't attacked as they were going to the polls will be easily identified as voters for the next few days. As Mr. Faux News Rivera said - it's a great victory for the American People, even tho a mortar fell on an elderly woman.

Me thinks the lady protest too much. Cable stations with the promise of 24 hours in Iraq. They promise that this will put the insurgency on the run. Bush promises that violence will continue. The much celebrated blue dyed fingers of voters should help protect those who voted from post election violence. As long as they keep their hands in their pockets. The media continues to promote the fantasy world proposing that those fighting the U.S. occupation forces are doing so simply because they hate freedom (not a reaction against being occupied by a foreign military force), and all arguments that suggest even a slight variation from the Bush Decree are simply "anti-american" fanatics.
Goddamned the left wing media.