BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 -- Tucked into a bunker-like former headquarters of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, a type of war room unfamiliar in this country buzzed with life Wednesday. Halfway through a 14-hour shift, campaign workers from the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab group that boycotted the country's previous elections in January, munched rice and kebabs, their faces lit by computer screens.
Across town, hundreds of black-clad followers of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr -- who decried balloting 10 months ago as something imposed under American occupation -- beat their backs with chains and stomped across a large poster of former interim prime minister Ayad Allawi. Sadr's political wing has joined forces with the alliance of Shiite religious parties that leads Iraq's current government and opposes Allawi's secular movement.
As Iraqis nationwide prepare to go to the polls for the third time this year on Dec. 15 -- this time for a new parliament -- candidates and political parties of all stripes are embracing politics, Iraqi style, as never before and showing increasing sophistication about the electoral process, according to campaign specialists, party officials and candidates here.
From The Washington Post.
1 comment:
Denise -
I saw that article as well - you can't deny the march of freedom is happening in the middle east...slowly, but surely.
Along that line - I have been putting this out to fellow Bloggers, hoping to spread the word about this great idea for Iraqi election day:
Conservative radio personality Bill Bennet suggested that on Iraq's upcoming election day (December 15th), in a show of support for the Iraqi people and our mission there, his listeners should also apply purple to one of their index fingers. This seemingly childish idea is clever in its subtlety. It will be like Ash Wednesday, without the ash (or religion)!
I think this is an excellent idea, and hope that many others will follow suit with the message.
Cheers, Timmer
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