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IRAQIS BOLDLY VOTE DESPITE STEADY VIOLENCE =
INSIDE=20 IRAQ
Mortar fire, bombings amid heavy security

Borzou = Daragahi,=20 Chronicle Foreign Service

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Printable=20 Version=20
Email=20 This Article

Iraq=20 Elections

Voting=20 held in Iraq's first free election in a = half-century,=20 attacks on polling stations kill 44 = (01/30)=20

Mortar=20 fire, bombings amid heavy security = (01/30)=20

Bay=20 Area men drive all night to cast ballots = (01/30)=20

Polls=20 open under heavy security in Iraq = (01/29)=20

Rocket=20 hits U.S. Embassy in Baghdad (01/29)=20

Iraqis=20 try to stock up on food, gasoline = (01/29)=20

Iraqis=20 dance for joy in Nashville (01/29)=20

U.S.,=20 Iraqi militaries clamp down (01/29)=20

Scuffles=20 break out at Australia polling station = (01/29)=20

Insurgents=20 blast polling sites around Iraq (01/29)=20

Iraqis=20 cast their votes far from home (01/29)=20

Dangerous=20 work for pollsters (01/29)=20

Rebel=20 signals he may resist new government = (01/29)=20

Exiles=20 around the world vote (01/28)=20

Bush:=20 Sunday will help change world (01/28)=20

Bracing=20 for the big day (01/28)=20

Elections=20 begin yearlong political march (01/28)=20

Violence=20 across Sunni region (01/28)=20 =

Baghdad -- Polling stations opened across Iraq = this=20 morning, as cautious voters braved heavy security and the threat = of=20 violence to cast ballots in a historic election intended to set = this=20 war-ravaged country on the road to self- government.=20

The entire country was in virtual lockdown, amid extraordinary = measures=20 to guard against insurgent attacks. About 90 minutes after polls = opened, a=20 polling station in western Baghdad was hit in a suicide bombing = that=20 killed an Iraqi police officer and wounded several people, = according to=20 police officials. Three more police died in a second suicide = attack in the=20 capital. In early election day violence, at least 11 people were = killed,=20 including five police officers.=20

Mortar attacks in Khan al-Mahawil, 40 miles south of Baghdad, = killed=20 another police officer at a polling station. Mortar fire and = explosions=20 were also heard this morning in central Baghdad, and two mortars = hit near=20 the Ministry of Interior on the city's eastern edge. Other mortar = fire was=20 heard in Baquba, Basra and Mosul. Five other people were killed = when=20 mortars missed polling stations and hit civilians.=20

Tensions surrounding the elections were ratcheted up on = Saturday by a=20 rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in downtown Baghdad that killed = two=20 Americans.=20

Interim President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer voted in a secure = polling=20 station inside the Green Zone just minutes after the 7 a.m. start = of the=20 voting, along with his wife. Emerging from the polling place with = a finger=20 stained with bright blue ink to show he had already voted, he said = the=20 election was Iraq's first step "toward joining the free world."=20

Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, whose political coalition, = called=20 the Iraqi List, appears on the ballot, voted about two hours = later.=20

At the Kitab primary school in Baghdad's Jadiriya neighborhood, = a young=20 boy wheeled his ailing grandfather to the polls on a rusty cart. = The=20 grandfather, 62-year-old Kareem Saleh, struggled out of the cart = and=20 lumbered with a cane to the balloting station. "Why wouldn't I = vote?" he=20 said. "This is our duty."=20

An hour after polls opened, a thin stream of voters began = arriving at=20 two schools in the Karada district of central Baghdad.=20

Qasim Muhammad Saleh, 45, walking with his two sons, Sajad, 5, = and=20 Jowid, 12, had just come from voting at Lebanon High School. The = boys were=20 carrying Iraqi flags, and Saleh's right index finger carried the = ink marks=20 showing he had cast his ballot.=20

"We now have our freedom," he said. "After 35 years, we finally = got rid=20 of Saddam and now we can vote for whoever we want. After casting = my=20 ballots, I'm hoping that the situation will improve."=20

Turnout was brisk in some Shiite Muslim and mixed Shiite-Sunni=20 neighborhoods, but the polls were deserted in heavily Sunni cities = like=20 Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra west and north of Baghdad. A low = Sunni=20 turnout could undermine the new government and worsen tensions = among the=20 country's ethnic, religious and cultural groups.=20

From a ballot that contains candidate lists of 111 parties, = coalitions=20 and individuals, voters will elect a 275-member transitional = parliament=20 that will serve for one year, produce a new executive and, most = crucially,=20 oversee the drafting of a constitution. A separate ballot has = lists of=20 candidates for councils in Iraq's 18 provinces. In addition, = ethnic Kurds=20 will choose a regional assembly that embodies the Kurdish desire = for=20 continued autonomy from Arab Iraq.=20

In Irbil, in the Kurdish northern region, the city was calm = this=20 morning as the first voters walked to polling stations along = streets empty=20 of cars.=20

Birzo Abdulkardir, a 30-year-old English professor, said before = leaving=20 his house to vote that he would select the Kurdish Alliance List. = "This=20 election, it is not about the parties, it is about the Kurds. The = more=20 seats we get at the Iraqi parliament, the better it is for our = future, to=20 defend our rights. We Kurds have been oppressed for so many years. = We=20 deserve our rights."=20

At the polling station at the Irbil English Institute, about = 1,000=20 votes were cast in the first two hours that polls were open. = Voters were=20 searched as they entered strict security zones, guarded by police = and with=20 dogs sniffing for explosives. Many married couples arrived = together, then=20 split into separate lines for women and men. Virtually everyone = said they=20 voted for the Kurdish coalition.=20

Hamad Amin, 68, a veteran of the peshmerga, the Kurdish army = that=20 allied with the Americans in the March 2003 war to depose Hussein, = said,=20 "It's a very important day for us. We are voting for the rights of = the=20 Kurds. Kurds have been tortured so much in the past. We've been = attacked=20 by chemical weapons under Saddam Hussein. There are many countries = that=20 don't know that Kurds exist in Iraq, so we voting today so that = the whole=20 world will hear our voice."=20

Heyma Mustafa, a 19-year-old housewife, said, "I am voting = because I=20 want the Kurds to get as many seats as possible in the Iraqi = parliament.=20 If we get enough seats, then it will help the Kurds to fight for = their=20 rights."=20

Long lines were reported in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniya. = "We Kurds=20 have been shedding our blood for more than 80 years," said Karim = Abdulla=20 Marif, a cigarette factory worker in traditional baggy pants and = black and=20 white headdress who had just cast his vote. "I wasn't concerned = about=20 voting. . . . This means something good will finally happen to us. = It's=20 the happiest moment of my life."=20

In the overwhelmingly Shiite city of Najaf, the mood was = jubilant. "I'm=20 proud of this ink," said resident Jabber Hajer, 65, proudly waving = an=20 index finger soaked to the knuckle in purple ink to prevent double = voting.=20 "To me, it represents freedom. We want the elections like the = thirsty want=20 water. Those who do not participate are the losers."=20

In Baghdad, Jabbar Hossein Jabbar al-Rubayie, 37, decided to = make a day=20 of it. After voting, he and friends and neighbors planned to hold = a=20 barbecue party.=20

"This is considered a celebration for us," said al-Rubayie, a = Shiite=20 whose relatives were jailed and executed under Saddam Hussein. = "We've=20 never imagined that we'd have such a thing because we lived under = a=20 dictatorial regime under which we did not know the meaning of = freedom.=20 This is like a telling a small baby inside his mother that he will = come=20 out and be able to eat and breathe freely."=20

As authorities imposed curfews and banned traffic in Baghdad = and other=20 cities to head off attacks on polling sites, Iraqis waited = nervously at=20 home to see whether it would be safe enough to take part in the = first=20 election since the ousting of Hussein by U.S.-led forces in April = 2003.=20

The country remains deeply divided. Sunni Arabs who were = favored under=20 Hussein were scornful of the election, while Iraqi Shiites and = Kurds=20 looked forward to taking control of the government in a vote they = expect=20 their representatives will win decisively.=20

Less than 12 hours before the polls opened, a rocket struck the = heavily=20 fortified U.S. Embassy compound in the capital, killing two = Americans.=20 While shelling of the Green Zone compound is common, casualties = are rare.=20

The rocket crashed through the ceiling of the embassy's project = and=20 contracting office, which disburses reconstruction funds, shortly = before 8=20 p.m. Saturday. Michelle Henry, a spokeswoman for the contracting = office,=20 said a civilian woman and a U.S. Navy officer were killed. An = embassy=20 press release said that the explosion, which also injured five = people,=20 remained under investigation.=20

A car bomb also exploded Saturday near a voting center in the = eastern=20 Iraqi city of Khanaqin, a mostly Kurdish border town regarded by = officials=20 as relatively safe. Eight Iraqis were killed, officials said. = Polling=20 stations across the country were targeted with threats and = attacks.=20

A U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in a western = district of=20 the capital, the military said.=20

Delphine Minoui of the Chronicle Foreign Service and = Chronicle news=20 services contributed to this report.

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IRAQIS BOLDLY VOTE DESPITE STEADY VIOLENCE = INSIDE=20 IRAQ Mortar fire, bombings amid heavy security

IRAQIS BOLDLY VOTE DESPITE STEADY VIOLENCE =
INSIDE=20 IRAQ
Mortar fire, bombings amid heavy security