The Politburo Diktat

Iraqis Vote

Yahoo! News - Iraqis Brave Attacks; Voter Turnout High

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis defied violence and calls for a boycott to cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century Sunday. Insurgents seeking to wreck the vote struck polling stations with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing at least 44 people, including nine attackers.

Women in black abayas whispered prayers at the sound of a nearby explosion as they waited to vote at one Baghdad polling station. But the mood for many was upbeat: Civilians and policemen danced with joy at one of the five polling stations where photographers were allowed, and some streets were packed with voters walking shoulder-to-shoulder to vote. The elderly made their way, hobbling on canes or riding wheelchairs; one elderly woman was pushed along on a wooden cart, another man carried a disabled 80-year-old on his back.

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

I read this article aloud to my eleven year-old daughter (who struggles in school). Like Red Skelton in his famous rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance, I had to define almost every word and phrase and concept to my daughter.

I explained how my wife and I vote at the local school. "What if people were shooting at us, wouldn't that be awful?" When I got to the point about "streets packed with voters walking shoulder-to-shoulder to vote" I choked up. "Imagine, if bad people were shooting at Mom and Dad as we went to the school to vote, and all the neighbors packed the streets, shoulder-to-shoulder to vote."