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.
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