Despite Violence, Iraqis Head to Polls In Large Numbers

Monday, January 31st, 2005

Wow. Despite Violence, Iraqis Head to Polls In Large Numbers:

Former Gen. Uday Abdullah, a 50-year-old Sunni Muslim who commanded an Iraqi battalion until the fall of Baghdad, said he saw streams of neighbors walking to polling stations when he woke up yesterday morning. He lives in a Baghdad neighborhood with many former regime officers, and as he stood in line for an hour to vote, he bumped into former colleagues who had also come to vote.

“It felt great to vote,” he said. “Like I was free.”

Many Iraqi voters wore their best clothes, with whole families navigating past rolls of barbed wire and security checkpoints dressed in suits and ties, long skirts and flowery shirts, escorting children in party dresses. Handicapped voters rolled into the voting centers in wheelchairs. Children played soccer; women passed out candy and sweets to passersby. Many departed from election centers with the Arab cheer of “halhulah,” traditionally shouted at weddings.

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