And Now a Critical Moment: The Press Sizes Up the Iraqi Election

[struggle4progress]

By Greg Mitchell
Published: January 30, 2005 10:30 AM ET

<snip> But more complicated questions may emerge as the day goes on. What does "high turnout" mean? It is a percentage of all eligible voters or just those who registered? Do the vast disparities suggest a coming civil war? Did the insurgency suffer a death blow in failing to severely disrupt the process? And what are the results of the voting likely to show: a broadly representative government or one that may take Iraq in a direction troublesome for the U.S.? <snip>

Mariam Fam in the Chicago Tribune noted that "polls were largely deserted throughout the day in many cities of the Sunni Triangle north and west of the capital, particularly Fallujah, Ramadi and Beiji. In Baghdad's mainly Sunni Arab area of Azamiyah, the neighborhood's four polling centers did not open at all, residents said. In Samarra, north of Baghdad, stations were empty for hours, but later hundreds of people showed up. <snip>

"At one polling place in southeast Mosul, for example, the only voters by late in the day were 15 Iraqi security forces assigned to keep the peace."

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