Saturday, October 15, 2005

Ballots, Not Bullets

“Today, I came to vote because I am tired of terrorists, and I want the country to be safe again. This constitution means unity and hope”

- Zeinab Sahib – 30 year-old mother of three upon voting in Iraq’s constitutional referendum (as reported by the Associated Press)

If early indications are correct it appears that the vote in today’s constitutional referendum in Iraq was heavier than expected, with minimal violence and disruption from terrorists opposed to any move toward national unity.

Sunni participation is, I believe, a positive sign. While there is a long road ahead, this could mean that all of Iraq’s religious and ethnic groups have cast their lot with the ballot box and not the gun.

This is not to say that the referendum will pass. If the reports are correct, Sunni Muslims, who also voted in large numbers, oppose the draft. The count will be completed in a matter of days and we’ll know whether the people of Iraq’s next step will be to elect a parliament or to start the process over again.

I’m sure the pundits are going to be weighing in with their typical ferocity on this. I watched a bit of CNN this morning and got what I perceive to be an early preview. Some beautiful, under thirty, someone asked Jane Arraf, who was reporting from Baghdad, “Do you think they really know what they’re voting for. Ms. Arraf, to her credit, said that they did. But the look of disappointment on our pretty one’s face upon hearing the answer was palpable. She’d have been much more pleased with something like, “No, these people are stupid.”

I suspect that’s the type of journalism we’ll be treated to for days until the votes are counted.

I don’t know how the vote will turn our, but I’m certain that the people of Iraq know what they’re voting for. These are a people whose history goes back to the beginning of recorded history, to Ur of the Chaldes, to Abraham, the progenitor of three great world religions. These are the same people who historians have called the librarians of the ancient world.

Yes, my pretty little media vixen, these people know what they’re doing. Just ask Said Ahmad Fliha, a seventy-five year old man from Haditha who cast his ballot earlier today:

“I’m 75 years old. Everything is finished for me. But I'm going to vote because I want a good future for my children.”

9 comments:

Jay said...

I'm also sure the people of Iraq know what they want. That may explain their continued resistance to our occupation.

Anonymous said...

IRAQ: Welcome Generation-Choicemaker!
Reader-Reminder,
Each individual human being possesses a unique, highly
developed, and sensitive perception of diversity. Thus
aware, man is endowed with a natural capability for enact-
ing internal mental (decision) and external physical selectivity (choice).
Quantitative and qualitative choice-making thus lends
itself as the superior basis of an active intelligence.

Human is earth's Choicemaker. His title describes
his definitive and typifying characteristic. Recall
that his other features are but vehicles of experi-
ence intent on the development of perceptive
awareness and the following acts of decision and
choice. Note that the products of man cannot define
him for they are the fruit of the discerning choice-
making process and include the cognition of self,
the utility of experience, the development of value-
measuring systems and language, and the accultur-
ation of civilization.

The arts and the sciences of man, as with his habits,
customs, and traditions, are the creative harvest of
his perceptive and selective powers. Creativity, the
creative process, is a choice-making process. His
articles, constructs, and commodities, however
marvelous to behold, deserve neither awe nor idol-
atry, for man, not his contrivance, is earth's own
highest expression of the creative process.

Human is earth's Choicemaker. The sublime and
significant act of choosing is, itself, the Archimedean
fulcrum upon which man levers and redirects the
forces of cause and effect to an elected level of qual-
ity and diversity. Further, it orients him toward a
natural environmental opportunity, freedom, and
bestows earth's title, The Choicemaker, on his
singular and plural brow. selah

IRAQ; you're finally 'in league with the stones of the field.' Huzzah!

Phil Dillon, Prairie Apologist said...

Jay

My God, man, please try to make sense when you put a pen to paper. There was an election yesterday. The "resistance" you speak of is being conducted by terrorists who oppose the elections. My guess is that if you could you would pick up a gun and ally yourself with Zarqawi.

Thanks for showing your true colors. The terrorists have a true ally in you.

AubreyJ......... said...

It was indeed a great day for the Iraqi people, the world and for all Americans. Good read on topic as always Mr. Dillon. I would like to ask you to go by and visit SGT’s site when you get time. It brought tears to my eyes...
AubreyJ.........
SGT’s site is called “Across the Pond” Click here to visit...

Douglas said...

So not only was there an election, but significantly less violence. I've noticed that the Iraqi Constitution draft guarantees freedom of religion. I hope they will carry through on that.

xenmate said...

???

Do any of you actually know what's going on in Iraq? I doubt it.

But hey, we Americans are going to sort it out for them because we know better!

Yay! It's brilliant being so smart! I love being an American! I can go around and solve the world's problems from my couch!! (not like those pesky anti-patriots. Potential terrorists surely!!).

Brilliant guys.

Just brilliant.

By the way, keep your eyes peeled for news on the "unusually high" turnovers in certain voting districts in Iraq. Coming soon to a news channel near you. Or just look it up on the internet.

Love,

Xenmate

www.xenmate.blogspot.com

web_loafer said...

Phil,
What a glorious day, you wrote about. Iraq has improved itself so much.
The Iraqi people don't call George Bush stupid, or any of the names the leftists of America call him. They love him.........
He would have a better poll rating in Iraq today than in America...
I'm all right by that.
You see, in America, the 'explaining class' used to be teachers and pastors.
But now for the kool aid drinkers, the 'explaining class' is the movie stars, sport heroes and musicians.

Go figure?
Me? I’ll still let God’s Word explain things to me.

This was the third, on time
(as promised by President George Walker Bush)
improvement in modern Iraq, courtesy of the USofA.

1. Sovereignty
2. Constitutional Delegates chosen.
3. And now the ratification of that constitution.

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Zelda said...

I just read your comment regarding eugenics over at Blonde Sagacity. You said it so perfectly and I just wanted to express some admiration for it.

As for the Iraqi elections, I would find it amusing, that life, democracy, and freedom prevails despite the press. They are not as powerful as they think.