"Every purple finger is a bullet in the chest of terrorism."
Quote of the day - by the Iraqi man who helped save Private Jessica Lynch. (HT: Beth Topaz)
The enthusiasm today around the Iraqi Headquarters was contagious. As the sun came up, the place was buzzing again with activity. We rolled out two large convoys to go take the Senior Staff and Soldiers to check on the security status of the polling centers in our sectors. While they were there, several of them voted, since they had not done so during the past few days. A few of the Iraqi Officers laughed when I inspected their fingertips for purple ink when they returned to the TOC. It was a quiet day for the most part, as expected. There were no Iraqi or American Soldiers hurt due to enemy action. A few civilians were wounded, unfortunately, but all in all, the day was a great success. Turnout appeared to be the strongest of any election yet.
As for the predictions that I mentioned, they are completely anecdotal and have no basis in any standardized polling or scientific method. I have, however, heard the same things enough times to make me think that there might be something to what I am hearing. List number 731, that of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, should have a relatively strong showing – much better than a year ago. His name has been mentioned frequently by both Iraqi Soldiers and civilians. The two Shia religious parties that did so well in the interim government elections, SCIRI and Dawa, will not do as well as they did last time. They will still have a strong showing, but they will probably lose ground in the Parliament compared to what the have had over the past year. The
Kurdish Coalition, largely ethnic and regionally based will probably do the same as they did in the last election and remain the bloc that someone must partner with in order to form a majority coalition. For now, the Iraqi Soldiers are looking forward to a well earned day off, some of them anyway. First, however, ballots need to be secured, transported and counted. I will add another photo gallery in the next few days – Inshallah…
The purple fingers sez it all
Posted by: Boe Simpson | December 15, 2005 at 10:51 PM
Congrats, Major!!! Congrats to you and all service men and women. With the exception of a few very unfortunate news items, everything I've heard and seen thus far is pointing toward this election being an even greater success than the last one, and obviously a great success in its own right.
I'm sure there's still a lot of work to be done, but morale is definitely helped when you can look back on a day like today and see how far you've come.
Keep on seein' it through! Hope to see you before long.
Cheers!!
G
Posted by: g | December 15, 2005 at 11:23 PM
Maj K,
This is the tipping point day that you have all been working towards. Congratulations to all, coalition and Iraqi!
Posted by: Edward | December 15, 2005 at 11:41 PM
An oldie but a goodie:
http://solomon2.blogspot.com/2005/02/america-beautiful-3rd-stanza.html
Oh beautiful for heroes proved -
Posted by: Solomon2 | December 16, 2005 at 03:17 AM
So did did you feel like a proud father again? Watching the Iraqi security forces that you trained today protect their people so they could vote must have been a source of great pride. Congratulations to you and all the coalition forces for helping to make this day possible. Stay safe. Beth
Posted by: Beth Lamm | December 16, 2005 at 03:46 AM
Good Work Maj. K. You are part of history that will not be forgotten.
Posted by: Ledger | December 16, 2005 at 05:34 AM
Major K., you all are simply amazing!! We are honored to support heroes like yourselves who are laying your lives on the line to bring freedom and democracy to others in the world! You are making history -- WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!
Beth (bethtopaz)
Posted by: bethtopaz | December 17, 2005 at 10:07 AM
Congratulations to the Iraqi people on the third step to real democracy.
In four years they will choose again and, when they do, today will already seem like a distant memory and they will be like old hands. Maybe even, in four years, Iraqi democrats will go to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia and show them how it is done.
Thank you and the men and women who work with you for your service.
Posted by: kat-missouri | December 17, 2005 at 10:27 PM
To most Democrats "on the hill" I hope these purple fingers are a shot in their six o'clocks!
Now John Kerry can get a "Purple Finger Heart". Thanks and God bless all our troops!!! Hooah!!!
Posted by: Jihadgene | December 18, 2005 at 07:26 AM
my name is kozel! are you?
Posted by: kozel | September 03, 2007 at 12:06 AM