This Week in Iraq

Well, I'm happy to say it's Saturday, and time for another This Week in Iraq. Like last week, the news in Iraq is dominated by the referendum. I'll give you some "you heard it here first" news and statistics in a second, but first let's see what else in cooking in the country:

• Two new electricity distribution projects complete in Al-Talayee and At-Thawra (10/20) We continue to bring Iraq closer to a never-before reached goal of 24/7 electricity to each home.
• New road built in Al-Basrah (10/21) Half a million US dollars invested in a road to allow village residents to bring their wares to Basrah. What did Saddam ever do for Basrah province? I'll wait for an answer.
• New water project begins in Baghdad (10/22) Two million dollars invested in clean running water for the city, bringing a nation out of the third world.

So onto the referendum. Results were so massively in favor of a peaceful representative government that the world cried foul, insisting that the results must have been faked. There will be an investigation, and if there was wrongdoing, we will see that it is corrected. A week later, the Electoral Commision has said the vote appears fair (news story), but they won't release the results until Monday or Tuesday. Place your bets on a "yes" vote, however.

And the statistics? Here they are:

• 450,000 -- just under a half million people -- volunteered to work at polling centers. Unlike last year's election, hundreds of thousands (279,000, to be exact) were turned away as unneccessary.
  
• While still preliminary, it appears that approximately 9.6 million Iraqis voted, including detainees held by the United States.
• Total attack tallies: 89 attacks, of which 19 took place at polling centers, which resulted in ten deaths -- only three of whom were civilians. Zero suicide bombers. Last year's elections were hailed as amazingly peaceful with only 299 attacks.

Slow but steady progress wins the war, and wins freedom for millions of Iraqis. March on!

Labels: iraq

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