Iraqi Hope
Iraqis voted in record numbers with at least 10 million voters turning out — 67 percent of registered voters making their ways to the polls to make their voice heard.After so much suffering, there is so much hope:
Nori Abdul Hadi and his wife walked the 500 meters of dirt road from the black gate of their home in the Shiite spiritual city of Najaf to the school where they could vote on Thursday. ...
They dipped their fingers in blue ink and carefully slipped the precious sheets of paper into the plastic ballot box - casting votes they hoped would finally protect them and Iraq's other Shiites after centuries of oppression. ...
So he voted on Thursday with hope for the future and fear of the past.
He voted for a new Iraq that will keep Saddam away.
He voted to be represented as a Shiite.
He voted so jobs will come to his city and his family won't live on his wife's $70-a-month salary.
He voted to ask the Americans to stay until he's sure the suffering is over.
He voted to secure his future.
He voted to remedy his past.
"No one said I'm sorry that you suffered, that you lost your brother, that you lost your home," he said. "I hope the government will be better and unite. I'm relieved."
Blog post #5692 in category
Iraq
posted 15 December 05