Some Just Voted for Food

[illflem]

BAGHDAD, Jan 31 (IPS) - Voting in Baghdad was linked with receipt of food rations, several voters said after the Sunday poll.

Many Iraqis said Monday that their names were marked on a list provided by the government agency that provides monthly food rations before they were allowed to vote.

”I went to the voting centre and gave my name and district where I lived to a man,” said Wassif Hamsa, a 32-year-old journalist who lives in the predominantly Shia area Janila in Baghdad. ”This man then sent me to the person who distributed my monthly food ration.”

Mohammed Ra'ad, an engineering student who lives in the Baya'a district of the capital city reported a similar experience.

Ra'ad, 23, said he saw the man who distributed monthly food rations in his district at his polling station. ”The food dealer, who I know personally of course, took my name and those of my family who were voting,” he said. ”Only then did I get my ballot and was allowed to vote.”

”Two of the food dealers I know told me personally that our food rations would be withheld if we did not vote,” said Saeed Jodhet, a 21-year-old engineering student who voted in the Hay al-Jihad district of Baghdad.
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/hard_n...

[Toucano]

2. I've no doubt this is just the tip of the iceberg

Nothing this administration does or says can be believed.

The truth will come out, but the cheerleaders in the media will never talk about it.

[jswordy]

19. You said it.

Wait about a week or 10 days, and lots of stuff will come out. The government can bullshit the media in the first few days, but eventually the truth does surface. Keep your eyes peeled, because when it does surface it is likely to not be the top broadcast news story or the front page story.

[Amich]

3. It is sad to say I can see this being done.

but at least the vote was a success(sarcasm)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. So voting became life itself

very shrewd exporting of "democracy".

[OldVlad]

35. I'd rather starve then get blown up

I am thinking if there was any widespread bribery it would be easier to find then just this one time. I wish there was, and that this election didn't go through and all my GOP coworkers weren't doing the happy dance in my face, but I'm not going to be so naive, those people were a lot braver then I was. I wouldn't have gone out for a 5 course meal to vote for Kerry in November if some crazy guy was probably going to shoot me, this story is probably true, but doesn't add up. I wish there was a way to put a happy face on this, but it looks like Iraq is on there way and Bush will be able to crow about it.

[sadiesworld]

44. If things are so f**kin' great...

why can't we get the hell out?!

[OldVlad]

51. Who said it was great? n/t

[ckramer]

49. Okay, tough guy, you should try it out today

Drink water only as we speak, okay? Try not to eat any foods for the next 24 hours see what would happen to you, tough guy.

And then report back to DU tomorrow.

[OldVlad]

50. I'm not a tough guy

Tough guy? Not me. They are, I wouldn't go walking to a voting booth no matter how hungry I was, at least I have hope of getting food some other place. I couldn't dodge a bullet though.

Your irritation at me for stating the obvious strikes me as somehow WANTING this story to be true. If this is what we're reduced to, we're in deep shit.

[Name removed]

53. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OldVlad]

57. Let me be more clear

I didn't create anything, this whole thread is people wanting this to be widespread. I doubt its even true, and if so then certainly not widespread. If people want to believe in this, as some way needed to substatiate something, then "we" are in deep shit, in general. I didn't let people I work with play that game, that was my point. I don't think we can put up a face that these elections "failed" or they WILL do a happy dance. Freeps want to mock, its something their small minds enjoy, I don't.

[shrike]

59. There were elections held during the British occupation

of Iraq. At least one was quite free. Don't know if the Brits needed the same level of security we did at this one. The country ended up with Saddam Hussein, as we all know.

Iraq was carved out by the British after the Ottoman Empire fell, post World War I. They, too, planned to bring freedom and democracy to the region and enjoy its abundant natural resources.

The British were experts at dealing with far-flung places. We are not (see our experience with the Philippines.) They also went broke from doing so. So will we.

[ckramer]

61. Apparently you are a tough guy because

you can beat your own stomach by insisting not to go out for some available foods at the polling station. Are you sure how hunger feels?

[katinmn]

5. I've heard this from various sources but I still don't know if

they are rumors. It will be interesting to see if this story has legs.

If so, it has to be brought to the surface.

I'm skeptical of the claims about the heavy turnout and consider much of the photography and video to be "photo ops" set up by Rove trained PR consultants (RNC operatives posing as embedded journalists).

I hate that they've made me so cynical and skeptical.

[seriousstan]

6. I thought blogs were not LBN.

[Toucano]

7. Here's the IPS link

http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=27256

[illflem]

8. Non blog link, same article

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=27256

[AllegroRondo]

9. Did the same thing in VietNam

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[mirror]

10. They get away with it !

[Supersedeas]

47. History repeats itself

[fairfaxvadem]

11. "Food Dealers"??? Geez.

I swear, how much has the Bush Admin added to the frigging dictionary. I can't keep up with all the new terminology they inspire.

Maybe it's better than saying "well, the heroin dealer said if I didn't give him my cut, I couldn't vote", but still...

I know the UN suggested that the ration cards be used as a form of ID to register to vote, etc., but to use the food rations themselves as blackmail to vote is something entirely different.

Hope this isn't true, but nothing would surprise me.

[RawMaterials]

26. what did Orwell say that was called "news Speak"

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com /

http://www.guardiansofthesecret.com/postcards13.htm

war is peace
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength

[Toucano]

28. Actually it's 'newspeak' rather than "news speak".

Minor thing, really.

[kuozzman]

12. Puffy should have been in Iraq-"Vote or Die" n/t

[henslee]

13. With MSM having no credibility, even if the elections went perfectly,

who would believe it? In my gut, Iraq feels like an evil Frankenstein experiment as we half assedly try and jump start a democracy. Nothing spontaneous or credible about it. We can cheerlead all we want but it is so perposterous and hypocritical to selectively inject democracy in Iraq while overlookling oppressive governments in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc. I have no faith in the whole mess.

[daleo]

14. The Votes for Food scandal.

That's what the MSM and Republicans would be calling it, if it was anywhere but Iraq. I wonder if they also were dictating who they voted for, not just whether they voted. For example, some sort of collective punishment could have been threatened against neighborhoods that voted "incorrectly".

[struggle4progress]

15. Christian peacemakers question conduct of Iraq elections

Christian peacemakers in Iraq have raised questions about he conduct of the elections in Iraq at the weekend. <snip>

The general secretary of the Muslim Scholars' Board (MSB) - an organization of Sunni and Shi'a religious leaders - told members of Christian Peacemaker teams; "This election provides justification for the continuing U.S. occupation. It will allow the U.S. to override the UN Security Council resolution that the U.S should leave Iraq this year." <snip>

On the Baghdad street where the Iraq team lives, a Shi'a/Christian area, at least two Iraqis did not receive their ballot papers to allow them to vote. In Adhamiya District, a Sunni area, CPT heard reports from residents that people did not receive the monthly food ration allotment if they did not also accept the ballot. <snip>

News reports before the election contained statements from the United Nations suggesting that the U.S. was too involved in the election process. <snip>

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/arti...

[Supersedeas]

63. Christians question the Iraqi elections....how unpatriotic of them

[Solly Mack]

16. They used the food ration list. It was announced back in December

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28323-2004Dec...

"Election officials are using Iraq's food ration accounts as a master list for voter rolls. With last month's food ration, each household received a tally of residents recorded as age 18 or over. If the list was accurate, no action was required. If it wasn't, the head of household was asked to make a correction at a local election office."



and it wouldn't surprise me if they were told vote or no food.

[struggle4progress]

17. Some Just Voted for Food (LAI)

<snip> Many Iraqis had expressed fears before the election that their monthly food rations would be cut if they did not vote. They said they had to sign voter registration forms in order to pick up their food supplies. <snip>

Just days before the election, 52 year-old Amin Hajar who owns an auto garage in central Baghdad had said: ”I'll vote because I can't afford to have my food ration cut...if that happened, me and my family would starve to death.”

Hajar told IPS that when he picked up his monthly food ration recently, he was forced to sign a form stating that he had picked up his voter registration. He had feared that the government would use this information to track those who did not vote.

Calls to the Independent Electoral Commission for Iraq (IECI) and to the Ministry of Trade, which is responsible for the distribution of the monthly food ration, were not returned. <snip>

http://www.anti-imperialism.net/lai/texte.php?langue=3&...

[Roland99]

18. If true, imagine insurgents getting ahold of that list and attacking

people out of retribution?

[merh]

23. They don't need the list, just look for those purple index fingers!

I hate the thieving, lying, murdering bastards, they are just evil incarnate!

[Judi Lynn]

20. Thanks for posting the this news. Is it possible we can hope the same MSM

which burbled and gibbered all weekend as pure White House-crafted lavish praise for _Bush's war on Iraqis drowned out everything else, will take a moment to see what motivated the voters who did show up?

Listening to cable news, and network news was so alarming, I finally walked away from all of it. It would be hard to overlook the fact the same heavy hand appeared to have written all the scripts. It was uniformly full of adoration and servile bowing and scraping. Couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Was anyone else puzzled over CNN's decision to keep playing extreme close-ups of a large, homely Iraqi woman making that tongue-trilling victory cry? It seemed sadistic to chose a woman already not at her best, then to position the camera several inches from her tongue. I totally believe they intend to target people who seem "different" to deepen the sense of distance, and repulsion, superiority, and non-responsibility our most ignorant citizens already feel toward others elsewhere.

If they want to see ugly, they have a lot to work with right here.

[Emillereid]

21. This is unconscionable -- it's a complete perversion

of the democratic process. So these courageous people had to risk their lives to vote as Bush says -- but he didn't finish the sentence. The sentence should have been, The courageous people risked their lives to vote so they could eat. This is sick, sick, sick!!

Robert Fisk on Democracy Now also said that a lot of people he interviewed voted believing that it was the only way to get the Americans to leave. Suckers! If they think they're going to get a government that will ask us to leave they're dreaming. I've no doubt that whatever government we allow will turn around and ask us to stay -- at least until order is established. Yeah, right.

[ultraist]

22. Even if it was an implied bribe or threat

It is NOT part of a democratic voting process. Rewards (bribes) for voting are illegal in this country and threats are a form of voter intimidation whether it is implied or blatant.

I would not be a bit surprised if this was true. This *election* was nothing but a sham.

[old blue]

24. Think repubs would ever dream of so inducing welfare recipients to vote?

Back home, they'll do everything they can to *prevent* the poverty-stricken from voting.

[Kagemusha]

25. If the food wasn't conditional on voting for a particular party,

then what is everyone complaining about?

That's if, of course. We knew way back that the oil for food lists were the only voter registration possible.

[Toucano]

27. The right to choose not to participate

is fundamental.

To make people choose between risking their lives by voting and facing starvation by not voting is not democratic.

It's about creating the appearance of a democracy.

If you were told you couldn't get your paycheck unless you voted would you think that was right? Don't you think "None of the above" should be an option?

[Bleys]

39. Agreed!

This isn't an incentive to vote, it's coercion. That's bad/wrong/despicable.

-josh
mockriot - news discussion

[Lone_Star_Dem]

29. Riverbend addressed this in her blog back on Jan 22

She said, "People in many areas are being told that if they don’t vote- Sunnis and Shia alike- the food and supply rations we are supposed to get monthly will be cut off. We’ve been getting these rations since the beginning of the nineties and for many families, it’s their main source of sustenance. What sort of democracy is it when you FORCE people to go vote for someone or another they don’t want?"

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com /

Sounds like her claims may have been true.

[On the Road]

30. "Some Just Voted for Food"

So maybe some people voted against Allawi in favor of a ham sandwich.

[Carolab]

31. Iraq Elections: Sham of the Century

<snip>

Further says Al Mukhtar no one knows who has drawn up the electoral lists and on what they are based. "I am an Iraqi and entitled to vote, but no one has contacted me." As a prominent and internationally well known Iraqi he can hardly have been overlooked one wonders how many other Iraqis who are hardly likely to have voted for puppet "Prime Minister" Allawi and his gang have been similarly "overlooked." Further, allegation of intimidation of Iraqi expatriates abroad seems to be borne out by the fact that of an estimated seventy thousand Iraqis living in the north of England, just three hundred and fifty have so far registered to vote, according the the Chair of the Manchester based Iraq Solidarity Campaign Hussein Al Alak. A strange reluctance in some cities to hold the elections in public building also appears to have crept in. Manchester Town Hall declined as a venue on the basis that there were too many weddings being held there on polling day. When the wily Al Alak checked, there was, in fact just one booked. 371 Oldham Road has now been designated in an area entirely dominated by the BNP. In Glasgow polling is inexplicably listed at two private houses, 71 Holland Street and 94 Elmbank Street.

Where the external votes will be counted and by whom and under what independent monitoring body is unannounced and unknown says Al Mukhtar. Further he adds that legally election must be 'possible, fair and reasonable' - none of which apply in the chaos of occupied Iraq where votes are also being bought and even Iyad Allawi - who recently tried to buy favors from journalists with hundred dollar bills in brown envelopes - is complaining of being intimidated in spite of being surrounded by US soldiers and tanks. Oh, and the only 'independent' monitoring of the elections within Iraq are being carried out from Jordan - twelve hundred kilometers away. No wonder Allawi has kept his British passport and his mansion in leafy Surrey as insurance.

Further, it is is not, as widely reported, just the Sunnis who have boycotted the elections. The Iraq National Foundation Conference comprises of prominent Shiite, Sunni, Pan-Arabists and Marxists. They have turned their back on the whole process due to the absence of an international body to oversee the proceedings.

Further trouble in paradise has broken out in the Jordanian capital, Amman, between the International Organization for Migration - who control overseas voting on behalf of Out of Country Voters. The IOM has stated that Israelis of Iraqi origin are eligible to vote. Asma Khader, Jordan Government spokeswoman and Minister for Culture, says Israel based Iraqis voting in Jordan is quite simply 'out of the question.' In Baghdad the Independent Electoral Commission's Farid Ayar also stated that those with Israeli papers would be barred from voting. Jordan is the nearest country designated as a voting point, to Israel. Further, looking at the list of countries where Iraqis can vote and the vastness of say, America, Canada and the US, many Iraqis will have to invest in an airline ticket to vote - even those resident in Ireland will have to travel to the UK.

Intimidation is not alone rife for voters, from Basra, Iraq's beautiful battered southern city, to Mosul in the north and at virtually every designated polling station in Iraq, electoral committees have fled in terror - in Mosul the entire seven hundred left - polling stations have been bombed, burned and officials murdered. In Allawi's Alice in Wonderland world, he has, he says, devised the most stringent security tactics to ensure safety on polling day. He'd be wise to implement them forthwith - if they exist.

To add to the joy of Iraqis liberated from electricity, clean water, largely too scared to venture out, they are also to become a nation of hostages for three days before and during polling day. Borders will be closed, phones disconnected, mobiles rendered useless - and US other forces already murderous and unaccountable will be able to run riot and spill blood at will with not the slightest chance of the world knowing in this four day suspension of any semblance of 'freedom and democracy.' Cars will not be allowed near any polling stations so even those prepared to risk cueing to be blown up will certainly not risk walking to do so. 'Possible, fair and reasonable' the elections are not. A farce of historic proportions they certainly are.

Felicity Arbuthnot is a London-based writer.



http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0118-32.htm

[Javaman]

32. Free and open elections circa U.S. 1870...

Yup, just like the US. Vote early and vote often, otherwise you will not eat! Oh and sit down and shut up, I'll tell you who you are voting for!

[leftchick]

33. Truth Out link to Dahr Jamail report....

http://truthout.org/docs_2005/013105Y.shtml


you all KNOW bushco* can't resist tampering in an election!

[leftchick]

34. kick

[SoCalDem]

36. More on this.. posted last night.. from another source

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Mon Jan-31-05 03:42 AM
Original message
14 million voter registration came from food ration databases

Edited on Mon Jan-31-05 03:44 AM by SoCalDem
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=4654

snip..

Although results are not in, and won't be for at least 24 hours, preliminary figures indicate a turnout of anywhere from half to 60 percent of registered voters, especially heavy in Shi'ite and Kurdish regions. The voter registration list consisted of nearly 14 million names in the food-ration public-distribution database, and the implication that if you didn't vote you didn't get your ration card renewed was less than subtle. As Khalid, a young Iraqi blogger, related: http://secretsinbaghdad.blogspot.com /

"The way the voting happened, is that you go to the voting center, and you go to the man that is your ration dealer, the one that you take the ration from him every month, so you tell him that you are gonna vote, he marks your name on his list, and then you vote!!!
that way the goverment will know exactly who voted and who didnt, two dealers said that the next years' card won't be given to those who didnt vote.."

That so many registered voters didn't show up at the polls, in spite of this sort of intimidation, should tell us something about the depth of the split that sunders Iraqi society. The nonvoters – in this context, the complete rejectionists – polled more than any single party. This result should dampen the oddly artificial triumphalism of the moment and let us give thought to what this election portends.

The high turnout in Shi'ite areas puts the Sistani-blessed United Iraqi Alliance in the lead and ensures the influence of minorities such as the Kurdish groups and the Iraqi Communist Party will be disproportionately felt in the National Assembly. I have seen polls that give Allawi's party as little as under 10 percent of the vote, and in any case Iraqis seem to blame him for the current mess. Part of the reason for his declining popularity is because Iraqis identify him with the occupation – perhaps because he was flown around in an American military aircraft on the campaign trail. I wouldn't be surprised if Allawi is marginalized by these elections and the U.S. puts its chips on their old partner-in-crime, Ahmed Chalabi. American officials are already starting to "reach out" to Chalabi, as New York Times reporter Judith Miller put it on MSNBC's Hardball, offering him all sorts of plum positions in the new Iraqi Cabinet.


snip

[DoYouEverWonder]

55. So does this mean that everyone in Iraq has to have a ration card

just to get food now a days? What next? Tattoos on their arms?

[moondust]

37. Coercion is the Republican MO.

For Tom Delay (R-Tyrantville) and his ilk coercion is a way of life.

I wouldn't doubt for a minute that coercion got a lot of those hungry, jobless Iraqis to the polls.

[Bleys]

38. Kind of sick

Incentivized voting isn't such a bad thing (i.e., a reward for voting).

But withholding food rations unless you vote? That's not democracy, that's barbaric... dictatorial. Isn't freedom about choice? Including the choice NOT to vote if you don't want to?

-josh
mockriot - news discussion

[frictionlessO]

40. if they actually carry out with the threats and withold rations

the shit is really gonna hit the fan.

Never starve the disposessed, they have nothing at all left to lose....

stupid

stupid

stupid

people!

I DEMAND an investigation!!

[illflem]

41. I highly doubt the threat will be carried out

It's already served it's purpose

[frictionlessO]

42. yeah I think youre right... at least I pray that you are. nt

[no_to_war_economy]

43. Iraqis had to vote to receive food rations

Inter Press Service | Dahr Jamail

"Many Iraqis had expressed fears before the election that their monthly food rations would be cut if they did not vote. They said they had to sign voter registration forms in order to pick up their food supplies.

Their experiences on the day of polling have underscored many of their concerns about questionable methods used by the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government to increase voter turnout.

Just days before the election, 52 year-old Amin Hajar who owns an auto garage in central Baghdad had said: ”I'll vote because I can't afford to have my food ration cut...if that happened, me and my family would starve to death.” "

http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/hard_n...

[radwriter0555]

See? Last week I said, "You must vote or you vill DIE" would be anthemic

to these bogus 'elections'.

[LynnTheDem]

The Vote For Food scandal

Oh wait...we only have US State Media. n/m

[Earth_First]

I wish someone in the MSM would touch this...

otherwise, sending this to people such as my father and other conservative types, they will look at the URL and write it off as "some wacky middle eastern news outlet."

[FizzFuzz]

48. exactly. This is what I'm wishing with every single outrage

that has been happening since .... well, since ronnie raygun, it seems....but anyway, these last 5 or so years; if the sheep don't see it on nightly TeeVee news, then it didn't happen, the lying libruls aremaking up their wild-eyed stories again.

We can't get ANYWHERE without truth in media. Mainstream media.

[Racenut20]

All we need now is an Iraqi with a sign

I VOTE FOR FOOD to make this election farce complete

[w13rd0]

Just like the Saddam statue take-down...

...this has been another orchestrated Bush cheerleading event brought to you by thugs and liars. There were those here that scoffed at the "skeptics and cynics" then too, and the skeptics and cynics were proven right. Now, with the election, we're seeing the same thing. Ridicule, "What's wrong with you loony leftists, why can't you be happy for the liberated Iraqis? Praise Bush!" I didn't trust BushCo on Sept 10th, didn't trust them on the 12th. Didn't trust them before the Iraq invasion, don't trust them now. So far, I've seen NOTHING to change that...

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. I love Bush's GOTV effort

Food and the butt of a gun work wonders getting those stats up.

When NPR claimed that 8 million people voted I knew something forced these people to risk their lives.

What a farce.

[ckramer]

45. "Let them eat democracy!" /sc

[Walt Starr]

46. Looks like * one-upped the rappers. Vote or Starve. n/t

[frictionlessO]

52. anymore news on this yet? nt

[Megahurtz]

54. Bribing votes for food

They're learning the American way.

[alpha_sion]

56. I agree...People shouldn't be rewarded for voting.

Examples:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2...

http://www.jsonline.com/news/gen/jan05/296548.asp

http://www.registerfivedemocrats.com /

Regional News Briefs
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Jan. 26, 2005

MPS teacher rewarded inauguration protest
A Milwaukee Public Schools teacher rewarded members of an eighth-grade
class for wearing black on inauguration day, an MPS official confirmed
Wednesday.

Advertisement

"The implication was that it was a sign of protest against the
inaugural," MPS spokeswoman Roseann St. Aubin said Wednesday of the
incident at the Milwaukee Sign Language School.

The school's administration did not know how many students responded to
the call to wear black, but it was reported that those who did were
rewarded with pizza on inauguration day, St. Aubin said.

St. Aubin said MPS has a policy against political advocacy, and that
the school responded to the incident according to that policy. But,
because the incident was a personnel matter, St. Aubin declined to
discuss how the school responded.

She confirmed that the teacher was still working at the school.

[daleo]

60. Wow, a teacher in a school versus a military occupation government!

They're almost exactly the same thing! Glad you pointed that out. It proves that this just doesn't matter...

/sarcasm off

[Sivafae]

58. *kick*

[Skeptic2]

62. Er... people... ahem....

Iraqis used the food ration cards for voting because the voter's list IS that of those who get food rations (and are above a certain age). They used this list since it is the only somewhat-reliable recent list of the population there is, no other reliable census data existing from the Saddam era.

This isn't a "bribe for voting", it's a necessity. And, besides, even if it was a "bribe", a). I fail to see the "evil" of offering the Iraqis BOTH food and voting rights, and b). a group of westerners who were never hungry in their lives are, just about, the last who have any right to speak.

Incidentally, as some Iraqi ex-pats pointed out, the eligible voter list being drawn from food ration lists means that the actual voter turnout was probably even higher than reported, since the reported turnout was the number of voted divided by the number on the food ration lists; and the latter was inflated in size due to the common Saddam-era practice of families bribing official to "invent" nonexistent members for extra food.

[frictionlessO]

64. You failed to read the article or to understand it, maybe both.

I am one westerner who knows very very much what it is to be hungry. Your assumption that no westerners here know what it is to be hungry is misguided at best and far beyond insulting at worst.

Sounds like you are very happy we did what we did in Iraq?