Early Morning Report On Iraq Elections

      10% of Iraqis in America registered to vote and a 90% turn out expected. 8% of voter turnout expected in Syria. 13 million registered to vote in Iraq. 300,000+ in military camps are unable to vote. Media is only allowed to visit secure polling places where voter turn out is expected to be high. 10-20% of polling places did not open due to poll workers not showing up. Finger prints are being taken as voters leave the polling places. If some of the regions don't get the representation that it is expected, the US has said that it will impose it's own representative to balance out the parties. Men are herded into one line and woman into another as they line up to vote. Complaints are coming in from all over Iraq

      These are just some of the numbers and information that were reported this morning on CNN International on the Iraqi elections. Is this a successful democratic election? It is not enough to just hold an election, but to hold a fair election that the people participate in. While there are no credible exit polls and we won't know the real numbers for days still, don't fall for the line that the White House will tout that having the elections is a success on it's own. There are no election monitors on the ground. We do not know the level of fraud there may be. We do not know what the fall out will be. We do not know what tomorrow will bring.

      While I am sure we all hope for the best for Iraqis during these elections, we must stay grounded in reality. History shows us that elections are not enough. As a press conference was held, outstanding numbers were being thrown out with the emphasis of how the government was very happy with the turnout. When pressed about the numbers, it was found that the numbers they were talking about were only registered voters and not voter turnout. The press ended up very confused. This is the type of propaganda that we must keep an eye out for. Remember that with limited press access to only high turnout and secure polls, early numbers will be very bright on the surface. The real numbers will take weeks to finish and with so many candidates and parties, the numbers will be next to meaningless to Americans.

      With the threat of a civil war and the excuse of poor voter turnout being an incentive for the insurgents, there are going to be trying days ahead. Earlier this week we held a small unscientific poll in the channel and the numbers of deaths expected were between 50 - 300. I think we can all be happy if these numbers can be kept low. At the time of this writing, the current count of the dead from various attacks, is about 25 with unknown wounded.