The Town Hall Archives

Jonathan · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 8:59 pm Post subject: Iraq has voted

I was up last night (it was night here anyway) when the polls opened. CNN was reporting that turnout was low, the terrorists were going to win, and this was going to harm George W. Bush. But at the end of the day, what do we see? High voter turnout, low casualites, and CNN is singing a different tune.

-Jonathan

GusDeHaan · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 10:54 pm Post subject:

CNN where americans get their daily dose of garbage, their pro left agenda, and on a bad day their intelligence.

har har har har

Jonathan · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:12 pm Post subject:

lol, very true

-Jonathan

The Top Crusader · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:37 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I was up late last night, and spent a lot of today watching coverage. Great news. Amazing how they have roughly 20% higher voter turnout compared to the United States, and they have the risk of getting killed. Plus its great to see how to them, voting is a cause of celebration... while in the United States, many consider it more of a pain than anything (not me, I did a little dance atop the sign-in table, while shouting Right Wing propaganda).

JM91 · Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 6:20 pm Post subject:

Magnus 84 · Salt and Pepper Member Joined: 26 Dec 2003 Posts: 496

Well, I am back finally, after recovering my emotions from John Kerry's defeat...so let me just add my comment to this particular thread. Yes Iraq voted, yes its better than not voting. But who voted and how they voted is the far more important result. It appears that that as predicted, the Shia and Kurds turned out while the Sunnis didn't. That in itself is a bad thing. Secondly, it appears that the United Iraqi Alliance (alliance of Shiite religious parties) is winning a majority of votes. In other words, this is a victory for Sistani more than anyone else. His influence will be immense over a new Iraqi government, and keep in mind that this is a man who has publically called for the destruction of the Israeli state. The reason why the Shiites have been largely quiet is because they felt assured that they would dominate any political elections and it looks like they did. Any attempts now to interfere with their rise to power will likely lead to violence (i.e The Mahdi army and worse)

Here is my prediction for the coming year, and you can hold me to it. The Sunni insurgency will continue without waning..and unlike the Bush administration originally insisted, compromises of mostly Iraqi nationals, not foreign jihadis. In other words, nothing much will change. Unless of course, the Bush administration attempts millitary action against Iran, and then things will get much worse.

Disco Dan · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:47 am Post subject:

Good to have you back, Magnus. Smile

Magnus 84 · Salt and Pepper Member Joined: 26 Dec 2003 Posts: 496

Why thank you, EB.

Jonathan · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:05 pm Post subject:

I second that, it's good to have you back.

-Jonathan

Kanimoto · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 4:42 pm Post subject:

I'm glad the Iraqis have voted. Very Happy