The stained fingers of Iraqis write their victory over terrorist threats: “If people one day decide to live, all chains must break loose", say Friends of Democracy from

By Friends of Democracy Republished by  Thinking-East.Net © and courtesy of: Friends of Democracy	Date published: 07/02/05 Section: Themes / Middle East 905 words
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Baghdad 01/31/2005
By a Friend of Democracy

Iraqis proved yesterday there were stronger than any threat. Their will was not affected by all the threats of men like Al Zarquawi, or by henchmen of the former regime. They stunned the entire world, showing they can challenge anyone trying to thwart their march towards democracy. In spite of all the sufferings and crises associated with the fall of the former regime, Iraqis have proven, with their fingers, that they are greater than others, and that they want to build a free, independent and sovereign Iraq.

It is the will of the people to take destiny in its own hands and to build its future. The whole world praised this civilized people, whose reputation was tentatively stained by certain satellite stations, through pictures of destruction and thefts perpetrated by some ignorant and criminals. Everyone knows that in every time and place, people like these exist. The fingers of each hand are not equal. Had any country in the world been subject to much less than what Iraq endured, nobody would have dared show pictures of this sort.

Iraqis, through their patience, their manners, their morals and their obedience to traditions and to international laws have forced the respect of the entire world as a people of civilization and hard work.

Here is President Gorge W. Bush congratulating Iraqis on this achievement which he himself was not expecting. There is French President Chirac praising the performance of the Iraqi people. Mr. Kofi Annan also agrees, saying that elections in Iraq went according to world standards.

Yes, Iraqis have gone through this experience in the utmost freedom, spontaneity and innocence, not for a special list or person, but to show the world the real nature of the Iraqi individual and to give the proof that they are stronger than anyone attempting to thwart their experience, for fear it will become an example for the rest of the world, in particular the Arab world, where peoples suffering from oppression, deprivation and fear may ask to do what Iraq did.

Mosul 01/31/2005
By A Friend of Democracy

150,000 voters from the district of Al Hamadaniyah and surrounding villages and regions hold a demonstration of protest.

Over 150 thousand people went out today Monday 31 January, in the district of Al Hamadaniyah and the regions of Bartala, Kamarliss, Iyadiyeh, and surrounding villages in a huge demonstration of protest, their regions not having participated in elections yesterday because the ballot boxes were not sent there on time. These regions are inhabited by Chaldeans and Assyrians. A number of demonstrators voiced their anger because the governor of Ninawa didn’t fulfil his commitment to keep the ballot boxes open yesterday until 10 p.m.
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A source in Karakoush informed us that the leadership of the Democratic Assyrian Movement has been in a continuous session since Sunday noon, discussing the flaws that occurred in the cities and regions of the Ninawa valley. He added that intense talks are going on with all sections of the IECI, the presidency, the Prime Minister office, the US ambassador and the US State Department.

The source indicated that the movement leadership is clinging to the right of their people since these flaws will have serious consequences on the specificity and the identity of the inhabitants from the regions which didn’t take part in elections, in addition to the harm suffered by the Yazidi and Shabak groups. They insist on dealing with this matter and determining the persons responsible for the ballot boxes and the supplies not reaching voting centers on time. They will not admit justifying this by the precarious security situation, since elections went on in much hotter spots without any such problems. Noting that the citizens of the region waited for a long time and gathered in front of the headquarters of the Assyrian Movement and in public places and demonstrated loudly when they lost hope that electoral supplies will get there on time, they asked for as solution to be found within the next day.

The same source added that Dr. Hikmat Hakim, a member of the presidential committee of the Interim Iraqi National Assembly, sent today, Monday, an urgent petition to the IECI concerning depriving the Ninawa region from voting yesterday. In the petition he wrote, we remind you that the inhabitants of the regions of Bahkdida, Bartala and Karamliss were not able to cast their votes on 30 January 2005 because the ballot boxes and other necessary equipments didn’t reach their region, which means that tens of thousands of inhabitants of these cities were deprived of their right to vote, a right they have long been waiting for. What the petition also said is that depriving tens of thousands of Chaldeans, Assyrians and Syriacs of this legal right will have serious and negative repercussions on citizens of these confessions in particular, and on all Iraqis in general. This is why I ask you to solve this problem as soon as possible to quiet down the situation in these regions. Since yesterday and until now, numerous demonstrators are asking to exercise their right to vote like all other Iraqis.

Pictures from the election to be found here

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