In Violence-Prone Mosul, Voters Will Need a Shield of Snipers

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/28/international/middleeast/28mosul.html

<snip>

An election will be held Sunday in this violence-racked city of 1.6 million, but it remains an open question here - as in so many other Sunni Arab cities where the insurgent presence is strong - whether enough people will brave the dangers to vote in significant numbers.

"Mosul is a hot spot," said Salem Isa, the head of security for Nineveh Province. "We have special security plans and will try to take all the possible steps to get them to the boxes peacefully."

It will not be easy. Even handling election materials is considered so dangerous that ballots and ballot boxes will be distributed to the 80 polling centers by armored American military convoys. "The military has to do it because of the security situation," said Khaled Kazar, the head of the elections commission here. "No one would ever volunteer to move this stuff."

Once considered a model city of the occupation, Mosul has descended into a hellish sectarian stew, 65 percent Sunni Arab and 30 percent Kurdish, with a sprinkling of Turkmens, Assyrians and other ethnic groups. Making matters worse, in November thousands of police and security officers abandoned their posts under an insurgent assault that coincided with the American attack on Falluja

Democracy a la Bush Quotes from http://www.bartcop.com/

"In a darkened hall, candidates for Iraq's main Shia party sit listening to a turbaned cleric speaking into a microphone. They are being told how to campaign for the election without getting killed.
The instructions are simple - avoid public places and do not reveal your identity, the cleric advised.
Most candidates should stay at home as much as possible, he added."
--Jack Fairweather, explaining Bush's vision for the Middle East

"I will not be voting because it is a useless charade. Any clever person can see that this war and its expenditures would lead to a government that opposes the Americans.”
--Salah Abrahim , who lives in the district of Baghdad populated primarily by Shia Muslims


"Who are these people? Where do they come from? Put yourself in my place, who would you vote for?"
--Yusrah Naif, a 52-year-old Shiite in Baghdad,


"I have no idea who these people are. We are all religious in Iraq but we want an honest, educated leader, not someone crying about what happened 2,000 years ago."
--Adil Guzzaz, 47, a Shiite who doesn't know any of the Iraqi candidates

geez you never see these people quoted on murikan TV. :eyes:

if this post is any example, by those who claim such empathy...