Good News from Iraq

[Cheryllynn]

Chrenkoff needs a thread of his own.

For those of you who ask me where else do I get my news, Chrenkoff is one of those sources.

He has a very active blog regarding Iraq, Afghanistan and other international interests. As far as I can tell, he is Polish who lives in Australia.

This is the beginning of his latest installation of Good News From Iraq:

"Iraqis Begin Voting After Rocket Blast Strikes U.S. Embassy" read the four-column front-page headline in yesterday's New York Times. In the print edition, the lead story, by Dexter Filkins, bore the headline "2 Are Killed--More Attacks Are Vowed." Another front-page story, by John F. Burns, was titled "The Vote, and Democracy Itself, Leave Anxious Iraqis Divided." The only good news to be found above the fold was a piece by Marc Santora: "U.S. is Close to Eliminating AIDS in Infants, Officials Say." When it came to Iraq, the paper was playing the same old familiar dirge.

Readers must've felt as if they'd gone through a time warp if they picked up their paper Sunday morning after watching the news on television. In scenes unimaginable only two years ago--and unimaginable to the press's professional pessimists two days ago--millions of ordinary Iraqi men and women braved terrorist violence and came out to vote in their first free election.

The first to cast ballots were Iraqi expatriates around the world, starting Friday. And the first exiles to vote, thanks to the International Date Line, were in my country, Australia. Kassim Abood, a senior adviser to the out-of-country voting program, told journalists outside a polling station in Sydney, "I think a lot of Iraqis are very proud today. People coming to me, shake [my] hand, hug me, kissing me and tell me 'congratulations,' it's wonderful." London's Daily Telegraph reported that "exiles danced in the street as they cast their ballots at nine polling stations in Australia. Turnout was high and some proudly displayed the blue ink on their fingers which proved that they had cast their ballots, calling it 'a mark of freedom.' "

Iraqis also voted in Syria and Iran, two countries whose citizens may start to wonder why their rulers are unelected. Polling places were set up near five U.S. cities: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville and Washington. And although there were no polling places in Israel, and some reports said Israeli-Iraqis would not be allowed to vote, one of them made his way to Amman, Jordan, where he cast a ballot. Overall, the International Organization for Migration, which coordinated the overseas vote, estimated that around 30% of Iraqis living outside of their country would have voted.

Turnout in Iraq itself was considerably higher. Millions came out to vote, despite well-advertised threats of Election Day violence. Some three dozen people around the country died in suicide, grenade and mortar attacks, but vastly more Iraqis were stained with ink than with blood.

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And on the same topic, different note: I hear the Newsweek has the Insurgents on its cover this week. The insurgents? I thought 'you've got to be kidding!' Not the lines that stretched through city streets, people waiting 5-6 hours to vote, not pictures from the drone who showed Iraqis walking up to 13 miles to vote, not the soon-to-be-famous picture of an index held up covered in ink, but the insurgents. Just completely inappropriate, poor choice, bad judgement and sadly IMO makes me think Newsweek is on the side of the insurgents and not the common Iraqi.

[robine]

Glad to hear some good news and not all the gloom and doom that usually spouts and spews forth from the liberal media... i am so glad these people had a chance to vote in a democratic process....Not sure what the naysayers will come up with next to slam Bush on, but I am sure we will find out soon....

[BC-DixieMom]

most of the news I've seen from Iraq has been positive lately and trust me, news on Iraq is about all we ever watch.