First Blog - Iraqi elections
This is my first time writing a blog. I hope that whoever comes across it in the near future finds it useful.
The first thing I saw on TV this morning was President Bush commenting on the high turn-out of the Iraqi people for their first election.
I had read in an article in the LA Times ( Jan. 2004) that the British, when they controlled Iraq as a mandate (c. 1924), had also sponsored elections, but they rigged the results in such a way so that the representation of the Christian minority would be proportionally equal to the representation of the Muslim and Kurdish majorities.
Therefore, in a way this is not Iraq's first election per se, but it does represent this country's first full, free election in which everyone can participate without fear of foreign intervention.
I am happy that the Iraqi people have courageously turned out to vote for a government that will represent their interests instead of the narrow interests of the Baathist tyranny under the rule of Saddam Hussein. I believe this is the first of many steps which will bring democracy to a world hardened by Islamic fundamentalism.
