Iraqi expatriates in the U.S. and Canada are participating in the Iraqi Elections from here (the U.S.), according to
a CNN online article.
DEARBORN, Michigan (AP) -- Akeel AlMosawi was so excited to cast his ballot in the Iraqi national election Tuesday that he arrived at the polling place a half-hour early.
The truck driver was in a group of about 10 voters who stood in line outside a Dearborn banquet hall, waiting for the polls to open at 9 a.m.
"I can't wait. I can't sleep last night," AlMosawi said.
more after the fold:
Organizers said they expect tens of thousands of Iraqis to vote Tuesday through Thursday at polling sites around the country, including in Pomona, California; Nashville, Tennessee; and areas outside San Francisco, California; Washington D.C., and Chicago, Illinois.
<snip>
Eligible expatriate voters may be U.S. citizens, but must be 18 years old or older, born in Iraq and hold citizenship there. Iraqis born in the United States who can prove their father is Iraqi also may vote.
<snip>
Only about 10 percent of the estimated 240,000 eligible Iraqi voters in the United States cast ballots last January for a constitutional assembly, Iraq's first free elections in decades.
Organizers expect the numbers will be much higher this time because at stake is a permanent government and expatriates can register and vote on the same day. Last time they had to make two trips.
"We've got people calling from as far away as Canada, saying they plan on coming to vote," said Mosadek Alattar, who is in charge of California voting sites. "This is becoming like a celebration for us."
In all the rhetoric about the Iraq War - our purposes for being there, the legality of it, our impact (for good or ill) on the citizens of that country - we cannot forget the Iraqi people who fled Iraq during Saddam Hussein's reign and had hoped to be able to return home after he was removed from power.
"My family told me not to come because of the situation," said Ridiya Al-Marayati, 62, a Shiite Arab housewife in Pomona who canceled a trip to visit her sister and elderly mother in Baghdad last year.
According to Sify.com expatriates in 15 different countries are voting. (The 13 other countries hosting the vote are Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.)
Amman Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi expatriates voting in 15 countries around the globe in parliamentary elections on Tuesday said they wanted stability and an end to the violence in Iraq. But their ideas of how to get there were as divided as their communities back home.
Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish concerns were reflected among many of the Iraqis living in neighboring countries, Europe and the United States. Voters came from all stages of their country's stormy past -- those who fled Saddam Hussein's regime, others who left amid the 2003 US-led invasion or took refuge abroad from the relentless bloodshed that followed.
<snip>
Iyad al-Iraqi, 22, a Sunni Arab voting in the Jordanian capital, Amman, said he hoped the elections would bring more "Muslim Arabs" to power.
"We hated living under Saddam, but at least it was safer then. Give us a thousand like Saddam, but not a single American to rule us," he said.
"...a thousand like Saddam, but not a single American to rule us." I thought that beared repeating.
Amid concerns among the minority Sunni Arabs that most expatriates are Shiites, concerns over the difficulties in organizing these votes, and fears that voters would have to pay a $30 poll tax and possibly lose U.S. citizenship and benefits, Iraqi expatriates are gathering at polling places and voting in the Iraqi elections.
From The Washington Times:
"This is my finger I push in Saddam's eye," said Khadim Al-Khafaji, pointing to his finger stained with indelible blue ink, proof that he voted. "The Saddam regime is gone. Thank you, United States," Mr. Al-Khafaji fled Baghdad six years ago and voted in Detroit yesterday.
Ali Almoumineen cast his ballot in Nashville, Tenn., but recalled the voting he witnessed during Saddam's reign.
"The ballot before had Saddam Hussein -- yes or no -- and if you put no, the bodyguard took you to the jail," said Mr. Almoumineen, a lawyer who left Iraq in 1992 and now teaches Arabic to U.S. troops.
<snip>
Still, the first day of voting remained a cause for celebration that spanned the globe.
A chorus of cheers went up as Nazem Kazem Saoodi, 60, a physician, cast the first vote in Dubai. "Yes, we did it," he shouted as he cast his ballot, then broke into tears and hugged his wife. "I'm doing this for my children. ... It's the first step in a thousand-mile journey."
I'd like to see similar excitement when U.S. citizens go to the polls in 2006 and 2008. Maybe we can poke our thumbs into some Republican eyes.
[Note: I'm not sure who the 14th country is. I'll update with that info if someone can let me know.]