Wow, i'm surprised no one has started a thread about the Iraqi elections going off without a hitch. They are estimating that upwards of 8 million people voted out of the 14 million registered Iraqis. While there were a few attacks only a couple dozen were killed and 71 wounded. This was a far cry from the "rivers of blood" that the insurgents vowed. Now hopefully the insurgency will die down because they will realize that the Iraqi's want freedom and democracy and their brutal tactics no longer work. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/30/iraq.main/index.html It was a great day for freedom and democracy in the world and hopefully this great institution will spread throughout the middle east and help stop the spread of islamofascism.
Thanks for the post. I considered making one, but I wouldn't be able to do it without somewhat gloating. :thumb: I think it went off better than anyone would have imagined. It truly is a great day and one for the history books. I just hope it spreads and puts the governments of Iran, Saudia Arabia, Syria, Pakistan, Libya, and the rest on notice that democracy can and will happen. Their citizens should demand it.
I think it is amazing that they are predicting something like 72% voter turnout, which is better than the US dating back to before 1960. The highest voter turnout in the past 44 years was in 1960 at 63.06% of eligible voters, even if the Iraqi number turns out to be only around 60 or so percent that is still better than the US since 1968 when the turnout was 60.84%.
Well this is great news. However, we'll still have alot to wait and see about. Will the elections be rigged? Will the new "President" be corrupt? Can Iraq ever truly develop into a democracy while being filled with Muslims? It's off to a great start and I hope other countries that called us crazy, told us they didn't want democracy, that what we were doing was wrong, and that we would never hold elections are taking note.
I can remember when I was a youth...Only about 4-5 years ago, I was much more liberal...But, luckily for me...I matured... Just joking, Parso!
I believe they were voting to elect officials to a general assembly. A presidential election for Iraq is still quite some time away. I watched a good bit of CNN's coverage of the elections late night last night. It was all very positive and there were tons of good stories about it. People were SO HAPPY to vote and choose leadership. Was very touching to see democracy make those people so happy.
Gotcha. That makes sense. I haven't been keeping up with it to be honest. It's funny that the liberal media always made it seem that these people didn't want democracy and always showed the anti-democracy rallys rather than the intelligent Iraqis that supported it. There's no way to refute great voter turn out.
Yea, they were voting to elect a 275 member National Assembly that would then choose a prime minister and write the new constitution. The constitution then has to be ratified by 15 or 16 of the Iraqi provinces and then new elections, falling under constitutional guidelines, have to be held by mid-december with the swearing in of the new government by Dec 31st.
Also, what is the US's role in helping to develop their constitution? I would hate to see Iraq turn into a modern Russia or even Mexico a few years ago with a joke of a democracy.
