CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Chrenkoff's "Good News From Iraq," Part 20

Arthur Chrenkoff's latest bi-weekly round-up of good news from Iraq is up. "Good news from Iraq" is truly worth reading. This edition contains over 160 links and is a wonderful counterpoint to the usual mainstream media stories dripping with negativity.

Fowler Surprises Dean In Race To Lead Democrats

Poor Howard Dean, first he is the inevitable Democratic nominee until Iowa, Kerry and Dean's infamous yowl. Now Dean's aura of inevitability to lead the Democratic party may have suffered a blow similar to that suffered by his presidential campaign.

Time Magazine reports that the executive committee of state party chairs voted to endorse Donnie Fowler rather than Dean to be the next Democratic Party chair:

Fowler, a South Carolinian who lives in California and is the son of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler, headed Al Gore's field operation in the 2000 presidential election. Last year he ran the field operation in Michigan for John Kerry, who won that state by three percentage points.

Former Texas Rep. Martin Frost had been considered the front-runner among the Anybody-But-Dean crowd, which includes a large number of Democratic elected officials. But Dean has been the odds-on favorite, in part because the 478 delegates of the Democratic National Committee who will vote next month on the replacement for current chairman Terry McAuliffe are more liberal than many of the party's most prominent faces. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and her counterpart in the Senate, Nevada's Harry Reid, are among those working behind the scenes to drum up anti-Dean sentiment, but other party stalwarts like Harold Ickes are backing the former presidential contender whose candidacy dissolved with a misplayed yowl in Iowa.

Another Connecticut Politico Under Investigation By Feds

The Connecticut Post reports that state Senator Ernest E. Newton II, D-Bridgeport, is under a federal investigation.

Newton, a former leader of the legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, stressed that he has not been contacted by federal agents.

According to the Post, Newton's troubles, include federal inquiries into his former job for the firm that ran the Water Pollution Control Authority; his sister's Bridgeport school for health-care aides, and his current job for a Massachusetts-based contractor for the Judicial Branch.

Trying to recover former Governor Rowland pleading guilty to corruption charges, the last thing Connecticut needs is another corruption investigation. Regardless of the outcome Newton's troubles, the investigation will only reinforce the image of Connecticut as Corrupt-icut.

8 Million Vote In Iraq

Bloomberg reports that as many as 8 million voted in Iraq's election:

"The streets of Baghdad were not soaked with blood" said Farid Ayar, spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, at a Baghdad news conference broadcast by Cable News Network as polls closed. The commission said turnout was about 60 percent, down from an earlier estimate of 72 percent.

This can only be considered a great victory over terrorist Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi and all the other evil doers who tried to scare Iraqis into not voting. This is great news for our "forward strategy of freedom."

"Suicide Bomber" Enabled Capture Of Zarqawi's Lieutenants

Newsweek, once you get past the headline, has a fascinating article about a Saudi evil doer who survived his homicide bombing and provided information that lead to the capture of a number :

He wasn't supposed to live, and the way he tells the story today, this "suicide bomber" wasn't quite ready to die. Twenty-one-year-old Ahmed Abdullah al-Shayea had come to Iraq from Saudi Arabia to join the infamous terrorist known as Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi in a holy war against the American infidels. On Christmas morning, 2004, he got his first assignment, to park a tanker truck full of explosives near the high walls around the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad. He didn't know that four fellow terrorists in a Jeep Cherokee following a safe distance behind held the remote-control trigger. When they pushed it, an explosion thundered across the city, killing 10 Iraqi policemen. But al-Shayea, unlike scores of other bombers who've been vaporized beyond recognition, was blown through the windshield and, against all odds, survived.

Taken to a hospital with third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body, al-Shayea was thought to be just another bystander wounded in the blast. But when police got a tip the second week in January that men were willing to offer money to get him out, or kill him, the cops got interested. If terrorists wanted him, so did they. "Our intelligence agents kidnapped him from the hospital," says Brig. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal, deputy minister of the Interior for intelligence affairs. Speaking to NEWSWEEK at his heavily guarded headquarters in Baghdad last week, Kamal described the scene. Al-Shayea was brought into the office swathed in bandages and propped up on a makeshift seat without a back. A pillow was put on his lap to ease the pain of his burned arms. Then the interrogators began their questioning, threatening to hand al-Shayea to the Americans, and at one point putting him on the phone with his father in Saudi Arabia.

[. . .]

General Kamal says information supplied by al-Shayea helped Coalition forces round up several of Zarqawi's key lieutenants within a matter of days.

Soros: Kerry Was A flawed Candidate

Bloomberg reports that Billionaire Bush hater George Soros, who spent $26 million in the failed effort to defeat President Bush, said Democratic challenger John Kerry was a flawed candidate:

"Kerry did not, actually, offer a credible and coherent alternative," Soros, 74, said yesterday in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "That had a lot to do with Bush being re-elected."

[. . .]

The Kerry campaign "tried to emphasize his role as a Vietnam War hero and downplay his role as an anti-Vietnam War hero, which he was," said Soros. "Had he admitted, owned up to it, I think actually the outcome could have been different."

Soros also dumped on the Democratic Party:

Soros said he also now questions "what the Democratic party stands for." Democrats need to counter "a very effective conservative message machine," he said. "There really needs to be an alternative."

I disagree with Soros' analysis. Ultimately Kerry couldn't generate the support necessary to defeat an incumbent president because of Kerry's constant nuances. Kerry's failure to stick to a position left the impression that he doesn’t believe in anything. People want a leader who makes it clear that he has firm beliefs. We will support such a leader even if don't agree with all of that leader's positions.

Iraqis Vote

Iraqis are voting despite the evil doers attempts to prevent the election.

The Associated Press reports:

Iraqis danced and clapped with joy Sunday as they voted in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched eight deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations. The attacks killed at least 31 people.

After a slow start, men and women in flowing black abayas often holding babies formed long lines, although there were pockets of Iraq where the streets and polling stations were deserted. Iraqis prohibited from using private cars walked streets crowded in a few places nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with voters, hitched rides on military buses and trucks, and some even carried the elderly in their arms.

''This is democracy,'' said Karfia Abbasi, holding up a thumb stained with purple ink to prove she had voted.

Officials said turnout appeared higher than expected, although it was too soon to tell for sure. Iraqi officials have predicted that up to 8 million of the 14 million voters just over 57 percent would participate.

[. . .]

Casting his vote, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called it ''the first time the Iraqis will determine their destiny.''

Turnout was brisk in Shiite Muslim and mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods. Even in the small town of Askan in the so-called ''triangle of death'' south of Baghdad, 20 people waited in line at each of several polling centers. More walked toward the polls.

[. . .]

At one polling place in Baghdad, soldiers and voters joined hands in a dance, and in Baqouba, voters jumped and clapped to celebrate the historic day. At another, an Iraqi policeman in a black ski mask tucked his assault rifle under one arm and took the hand of an elderly blind woman, guiding her to the polls.

[. . .]

''This proves that we are now free,'' said Akar Azad, 19, who came to the polls with his wife Serwin Suker and sister Bigat.

According to the AP, eight of the 31 people killed were suicide bombers.

Reuters reports that Iraqi's even voted in Falluja:

In Falluja, the devastated Sunni city west of Baghdad that was an insurgent stronghold until a U.S. assault in November, a thin stream of people turned out, defying expectations.

"We want to be like other Iraqis, we don't want to always be in opposition," said Ahmed Jassim, smiling after voting.

According to Reuters, Iraqis turned out throughout Iraq:

In the relatively secure Kurdish north, people flowed steadily to the polls. One illiterate man in Arbil, 76-year-old Said Rasool, came alone and was turned away, unable to read the ballot paper. He said he would return with someone to help.

In Basra in the south, a Shi'ite-dominated city where a high turnout is expected, a few dozen voters arrived at a school set up as a polling center in the downtown area, braving threats.

"I am not afraid, security is good," said Samir Khalil Ibrahim, a young man voting alone. "I'm really happy, this is like a festival for all Iraqis."

[. . .]

Western Baghdad polling stations were busy, with short queues of voters forming. Most went about the process routinely, filling in their ballots and leaving quickly without emotion.

Samir Hassan, 32, who lost his leg in a car bomb blast in October, was determined to vote. "I would have crawled here if I had to. I don't want terrorists to kill other Iraqis like they tried to kill me. Today I am voting for peace," he said.

In Sadr City, a poor Shi'ite neighborhood of northeast Baghdad that has been the scene of much discontent over the past 18 months, two lines of voters formed at one polling station, women in black abaya robes in one line, men in another.

[. . .]

In the shrine city of Najaf in the Shi'ite heartland, hundreds of people walked calmly to polling stations. The security ring around Najaf, attacked several times before, was one of the tightest.

"We are not afraid of any bombs," said Souad Salem, a voter at Akkad middle school. Shi'ites, who make up 60 percent of Iraq's people, are expected to win the vote after years of oppression under Saddam Hussein.

In Mosul, Iraq's third largest city in the north of the country, where there is a mixed Sunni and Kurdish population and where the insurgency has been strong in recent months, U.S. officials said voting stations were busy and attacks were few.

[. . .]

Baghdad's mayor was overcome with emotion by the turnout of voters at City Hall, where he said thousands were celebrating.

"I cannot describe what I am seeing. It is incredible. This is a vote for the future, for the children, for the rule of law, for humanity, for love," Alaa al-Tamimi told Reuters.

The New York Times reports that two hours after the polls opened Iraqis are voting in large numbers:

Several explosions broke out across Baghdad on Sunday morning, especially in the southwestern section of the city. American attack helicopters circled over the city center, and the roar of fighter jets could be heard from high above.

Still, two hours after polls opened, voters appeared to be turning out in large numbers in the capital.

At the Arabiya school in the Karada district of central Baghdad, plastic ballot boxes already had scores of large, folded ballots stacked inside just an hour after voting began.

Qasim Muhammad Saleh, 45, walking with his two sons, Sajad, 5, and Jowid, 12, had just come from voting at Lebanon High School. The boys were carrying Iraqi flags, and Mr. Saleh's right index finger carried the ink marks showing he had cast his ballot.

"We now have our freedom," he said. "After 35 years, we finally got rid of Saddam and now we can vote for whoever we want.

"After casting my ballots, I'm hoping that the situation will improve."

[. . .]

In the largely Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, for instance, many Iraqis, particularly followers of Ayatollah Sistani, said they would brave bombs and gunfire to cast a ballot.

"I voted under Saddam - it was bogus - and now I am ready for a real election," said Mohsin Abdul Ruda, a 50-year-old shopkeeper, who lives down the street from a girls' school that will serve as his neighborhood's polling place. "Everyone in the neighborhood is going to vote."

Mr. Ruda said he planned to vote for the United Iraq Alliance, the coalition of mostly Shiite parties brought together by Ayatollah Sistani.

As he spoke, three loud explosions echoed nearby.

"There is no fear," Mr. Ruda said, waving his hand. "Only cowards will be afraid to vote."

According to the Associated Press, preliminary results could be known as early as late Sunday even though final results of the election will not be known for seven to 10 days.

God bless all those Iraqis who want freedom badly enough to brave the threats of the evil doers. It makes me ashamed that so many don't bother to vote in this country.

Thank You Hollywood

Citizens United thanks Hollywood for inadvertently helping to reelect President Bush with billboard advertisements.

The advertisements feature the faces of liberal Hollywood icons Ben Affleck, Chevy Chase, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, and Barbara Streisand. There are two versions of the billboards "4 more years" and "W. Still President."

According to Human Events, Citizens United has purchased the use of three billboards near the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards.

Poll Finds Rossi Would Win A Revote

The National Journal's morning briefing "Wakeup Call!" reports that a Strategic Vision poll shows that Republican Dino Rossi would defeat Governor Christine Gregoire in a revote:

1. If there was to be a revote for Governor, would you vote for Dino Rossi, the Republican or Christine Gregoire, the Democrat?

Christine Gregoire 43%
Dino Rossi 51%
Undecided 6%

A majority of those polled believe that Rossi actually won the election and do not view the disputed King County ballots as legitimate:

2. Regardless of who you voted for in November's gubernatorial election, who do you believe actually won the gubernatorial election, Democrat Christine Gregoire or Republican Dino Rossi?

Christine Gregoire 37%
Dino Rossi 53%
Undecided 10%

3. Regardless of who you voted for in November's gubernatorial election, do you view the disputed ballots in King County that gave Democrat Christine Gregoire her margin of victory as legitimate?

Yes 33%
No 55%
Undecided 12%

A majority of those polled also want a revote, but don't believe the courts will allow one:

Iraqis Close To Capturing Al-Zarqawi

The Associated Press reports that three more lieutenants of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have been captured and authorities are close to arresting the terror mastermind himself:

The arrested al-Zarqawi associates included Salah Suleiman al-Loheibi, the head of his group's Baghdad operation, who met with al-Zarqawi more than 40 times over three months, said Qassim Dawoud, a top security adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

Dawoud said Ali Hamad Yassin al-Issawi, another associate, was also captured. Dawoud said the two arrests took place in mid-January but gave few details.

Also captured was al-Zarqawi's military adviser, a 31-year-old Iraqi named Anad Mohammed Qais, 31, said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh.

Asked by reporters if authorities were close to arresting al-Zarqawi himself, Saleh replied: "We are getting close to finishing off al-Zarqawi and we will get rid of him."

This is very welcomed news, especially coupled with Monday's revelation that al-Zarqawi chief bomb maker was captured.