Poor Dan - No Violence in Iraq At the Polls To Day

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I thought no one wanted a democracy over there, and we were doomed to fail.

:blah

[Vashner]

NBADan's stuck on stupid...

[boutons]

"I thought no one wanted a democracy over there"

... because you're too dumb to pay attention. The Sunnis/insurgents/jihadis DON'T WANT democracy. But that's enough to stop the Repubs from providing security, electricity, water, sewage, $$$ jobs, re-building the country.

"doomed to fail."

again, you can't read.

We don't even know the results of the election (very probably the Const will be approved), and you're already saying the doom is dispelled. I figure the Sunnis/insurgents/jihadis won't give a flying fuck about the Constitutional and upcoming parliamentary election results and keep up the violence for as long as it takes to kick the USA out, have a Shiite/Sunni/Kurd civil war, break up the country, and establish an Islamic theocracy, which will be a sworn enemy of the USA, just like axis-of-evil Iran is now. Shiite Iran will very probably end up pulling the Shiite strings in Iraq.

[boutons]

All along, the participation of the Sunnis, who are mostly behind the insurgency and slaughter of the Shities, has been key. It sure sounds like the Sunnis have NOT signed on. And even the Kurds turned out lower than last Jan elections.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/international/middleeast/16iraq.html?hp&ex=1129435200&en=b256de128fda8ef9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

The extent of turnout was unclear. But based on scattered reports around the country, voting in Sunni areas was higher than on the January ballot for an interim government, but appeared to be somewhat lower in Shiite and Kurdish areas.

At many polling centers in Baghdad, there were few of the long lines seen in January. In Erbil, in the north, Kurdish officials reported lower turnouts than in January. In Karbala, in the Shiite-dominated south, turnout was much higher, with estimates of about 50 percent.

More Sunnis voted than in January, but some Sunni cities reported virtually no turnout whatsoever. Many of the Sunnis who did cast ballots said they voted against the charter, which many Sunnis fear will enshrine Shiite rule for years to come and which they fear could help spur the ultimate breakup of the country.

In Ramadi, the embattled capital of Anbar Province, polling stations stood largely empty.

There was higher Sunni turnout in cities like Mosul, which has been a stronghold of the insurgency; Falluja, where American troops have kept up a heavy presence; and Baquba, a mixed Sunni-Shiite city northeast of Baghdad where the insurgency has been less virulent.

Hopes that the Sunnis would turn out in greater numbers than in January rose this week, after Iraqi leaders struck a deal with Iraq's largest Sunni political party. But most other Sunni groups, including influential Sunni clerics, refused to sign on, sticking to their insistence that no accommodation was possible until American forces set a timetable for a withdrawal.

The guerrilla insurgency is strongest in Sunni areas like Anbar Province, and one of the primary goals of the voting has been to marginalize the insurgency by drawing Sunnis into the political process.

Iraqi and American officials were hoping that greater Sunni participation would push the overall voter turnout past the 58 percent mark reached in the January elections.

The mood on the streets of many Iraqi cities, even in Shiite areas, appeared markedly less enthusiastic than they were on Jan. 30, when millions of Iraqis braved an onslaught of violence to cast ballots and celebrate in a vast outpouring of pro-democratic sentiment.

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Not a disaster (would the Constitution being voted down), but is there any basis to expect the insurgency will stop/diminish because of this election?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

"I thought no one wanted a democracy over there"

... because you're too dumb to pay attention. The Sunnis/insurgents/jihadis DON'T WANT democracy. But that's enough to stop the Repubs from providing security, electricity, water, sewage, $$$ jobs, re-building the country.

"doomed to fail."

again, you can't read.

It's called sarcasm you fucking twit.

[jochhejaam]

I thought no one wanted a democracy over there, and we were doomed to fail. :blah
At least a 61% turnout even with the threat of being bombed or shot by there own so-called Muslim brothers!



Iraqis Vote on Constitution
Saturday, October 15, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's deeply divided Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds voted in large numbers on a new constitution Saturday — a referendum mostly free of insurgent violence and aimed at establishing democracy after decades of Saddam Hussein's repressive rule.

The constitution is a sign of civilization," Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said after casting his ballot. "This constitution has come after heavy sacrifices. It is a new birth."

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Iraq's deeply divided Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds

Poor Boutons....

[E20]

You have to take in a consideration that the Sunni's are a minority who don't want a democracy, while the Shi'as/Kurds do (The Majority). And the insurgents are usually not Iraqis, so they don't count.