Iraqis Who Died While Daring to Vote Are Mourned as Martyrs

[geek tragedy]

<snip>
NAJAF, Iraq, Feb. 1 - Salim Yacoubi bent over to kiss the purple ink stain on his twin brother's right index finger, gone cold with death.

"You can see the finger with which he voted," Shukur Jasim, a friend of the dead man, said as he cast a tearful gaze on the body, sprawled across a washer's concrete slab. "He's a martyr now."
<snip>

<snip>
The victims of election day violence are being hailed by many Iraqis as the latest martyrs in a nearly two-year-long insurgency that has claimed the lives of thousands. They were policemen who tried to stop suicide bombers from entering polling centers, children who walked with elderly parents to cast votes, or - in the case of Mr. Yacoubi - a fishmonger who, after voting, took tea from his house to electoral workers at the school.
<snip>

<snip>
"It's not the man who exploded himself who's a martyr," Mr. Jasim said as the body washer wiped away dried blood. "He wasn't a true Muslim. This is the martyr. What religion asks people to blow themselves up? It's not written in the Koran."
<snip>

These are brave, brave people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/international/middleeast/02najaf.html

[daleo]

1. What's the source? n/t

[geek tragedy]

3. The New York Times--link added. eom

[Cronus Protagonist]

2. It's a shame it's a sham election

Still, our soldiers are also dying for it, so that evens it up a bit?

http://bushspeaks.com/home.asp?did=194

[geek tragedy]

4. Those Iraqis who risked their lives to vote sure are stupid, aren't they?

Contemptible attitude.

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. If you think that, you should be ashamed of yourself

And yes, you do have a contemptable attitude for thinking that, although expressing it is more along the lines of a display of indignant ignorance.

[geek tragedy]

6. I don't think it, but all the people who say that these elections are a

"sham" are essentially calling the people who risked their lives fools.

[LynnTheDem]

7. What total bullshit.

The election IS a sham. But no one called the voters "fools".

Infer whatever you like; it shows against you, not against those who believe this election was nothing but a sham & total farce.

[Cronus Protagonist]

8. The entire world knows it was a sham

Speaking the truth does not a slur make and, as you and I both noted, taking the truth as a slur opens a window into the mind of the one who so infers, not the truth speaker.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cronus Protagonist]

11. Good work setting up and shooting down your straw man

I find it entertaining to see you work, although it must be exhausting writing all these words for nothing.

Read this...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1403103,00.htm

Sami Ramadani will set you straight, if you can handle the truth. Here's a quote to whet your appetite....

"Meanwhile Moqtada al-Sadr's popular movement, which rejected the elections as a sham, is likely to make a comeback in its open resistance to the occupation."


http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[LynnTheDem]

13. Nope, so sorry to see your mind works only in the "black-white"

"with us or against us" mode.

The election in Iraq was a total SHAM.

Election arranged by a FOREIGN OCCUPIER, for an INVADED and OCCUPIED people under OCCUPATION by a FOREIGN ARMY, under MARTIAL LAW, during a raging WAR, who were told voting would get rid of US troops and/or they wouldn't get FOOD if they didn't vote.

OF COURSE it's a SHAM.

As for "my ilk" and "agree wholeheartedly with fascist terrorists", that says what YOU are, not what I or "my ilk" are. My "ilk" are PROGRESSIVES with a fucking BRAIN.

[daleo]

12. It was a sham, but that doesn't make them fools

They were playing the bad hand they were dealt as best they could. I suspect most Iraqis knew it wasn't a real election, but they thought the vote could have some effect on the sectarian struggle for power that is bound to ensue.

Lots just voted to get their ration cards updated too, according to reports.

Some were suckered by Bush, but at least they were scammed by a real artist, so they weren't necessarily fools.

[Ellen Forradalom]

14. So many elections here in the U.S. are also shams

in their own way, but that doesn't mean I don't vote. Voting is an expression of hope, of civic participation, and of popular will, no matter how flawed the election.

[daleo]

16. True, participation is more complex than the simple stories told about it.

Even the most perfect representative democracy is far short of what the Greeks meant by the term. Voting, or not voting, can mean all sorts of things from assent (this system works great for me) to passive aggression (I am getting screwed by system, so I'll vote for the scariest party I can find to upset the powers that be).

Some people in Iraq probably voted and planted a roadside bomb on the same day.

[Rockerdem]

18. Im beginning to think that most American elections are shams

Its difficult to stay optimistic in the face of the last two elections. Even more so since the big money men controlled the outcomes. Theres a distinct possibility that Iraqs was no worse than ours, if you examine ours closely enough.

[eridani]

19. Well, as Joe Stalin always said

those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.

[stray cat]

9. They are brave, brave people.

They have more nerve and dedication than I think I would. I wish the Iraqis the best. They deserve better than what this administration has delivered. Our soldiers also deserve a heck of alot better.

[ThorsHammer]

17. Very well said (nt)

[shrike]

15. I'm not so sure this election is going to change anything

Everyone in the MSM seems to believe that the election has solved everything; even Jon Stewart seems to have bought into that somewhat.

There were, however, elections during the British occupation, and we all know how that turned out.