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On April 9, 2003, the US-led
coalition liberated 26 million Iraqis and sent Saddam Hussein
running into a spider hole. |
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On December 15, 2005, the Iraqi people
grabbed the opportunity to vote in Iraq's first constitutional and
free election. There were only
sporadic insurgent attacks.
Voters turned out in large numbers.
Disaffected Sunni Arabs appeared
determined to win a bigger say in government and
also voted in relatively high numbers.
The polls were generally peaceful. |
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Large
voter turnout
and the generally peaceful election indicate that
the US approach spearheaded resolutely by President Bush is paving
the way toward a stable Iraqi
government and US withdrawal. |
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Voter turnout
was approximately 11 million -- about 70% of the registered voters. That
compares to 58% who voted in the January, 2005 election for an
interim assembly. |
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Saddam Hussein's home province
had a voter turnout of over 80%. Polling
stations in some parts of Iraq were
held open beyond
planned closing times to allow
people still waiting in line
to vote. This
mostly peaceful vote will
increase the potential for US
forces to leave a stable government
relatively soon. This is in contrast to
January's election for an interim assembly when
40 people died. The
long-time Sunni
insurgent stronghold of Falluja
had a turnout of 70%.
Kurdish regions and the Shi'ite south also
had large voter turnouts. |
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The cost has included over
two-thousand American lives, hundreds of coalition lives, hundreds
of billions of US dollars, intense international arguing over US
objectives, and divisive domestic US political analyses. There has
also been a severe testing of the American people's ability to
comprehend global politics and the strategy required to win the war
against terrorism. |
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On December 15, the Iraqi people
will demonstrate if they have a collective character strong enough
to surmount the dangers to vote. Then they will demonstrate if they
have the collective strength to defeat the domestic insurgency and
defend themselves from outside forces that want to hold them in the
primitive struggles of the ages past. |
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From today onward, the American
people will continue to demonstrate whether or not they have a
collective character strong enough to surmount personal politics and
short-sighted self-interests of weak pseudo leadership. |
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If worthy, both nations will
survive and be stronger for having struggled against their
respective internal enemies. |
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