Hank said:=>There is hope <=
Yes, there certainly is. The Bush Administration's steadfast and
courageous stand against terrorism and in favor of democracy and human
rights in the middle east is bearing fruit, as even the leftwing
Washington Post is being forced to admit, such as in this well
researched and well written article in today's edition:
A key quote from the article:
"It is like night and day from 10 months ago in terms of level of
participation and
political awareness," said a Canadian election specialist with the
National
Democratic Institute for International Affairs, a group affiliated with
the U.S.
Democratic Party that is working to ease Iraq's transition to
democracy.
See:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/07/AR2005120702511.html
Or: http://tinyurl.com/8e7fy
In Iraq, Signs of Political Evolution
Parties That Shunned January Vote Are Now Embracing the Process
By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 8, 2005; Page A18
BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 -- Tucked into a bunker-like former headquarters of
Saddam
Hussein's Baath Party, a type of war room unfamiliar in this country
buzzed with
life Wednesday. Halfway through a 14-hour shift, campaign workers from
the Iraqi
Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab group that boycotted the country's previous
elections
in January, munched rice and kebabs, their faces lit by computer
screens.
Across town, hundreds of black-clad followers of the radical Shiite
cleric Moqtada
Sadr -- who decried balloting 10 months ago as something imposed under
American
occupation -- beat their backs with chains and stomped across a large
poster of
former interim prime minister Ayad Allawi. Sadr's political wing has
joined forces
with the alliance of Shiite religious parties that leads Iraq's current
government
and opposes Allawi's secular movement.
As Iraqis nationwide prepare to go to the polls for the third time
this year on
Dec. 15 -- this time for a new parliament -- candidates and political
parties of
all stripes are embracing politics, Iraqi style, as never before and
showing
increasing sophistication about the electoral process, according to
campaign
specialists, party officials and candidates here.
"It is like night and day from 10 months ago in terms of level of
participation and
political awareness," said a Canadian election specialist with the
National
Democratic Institute for International Affairs, a group affiliated with
the U.S.
Democratic Party that is working to ease Iraq's transition to
democracy. The
institute, which has provided free campaign training to more than 100
Iraqi parties
and describes its programs as nonpartisan, granted a reporter access to
its
employees and training sessions on the condition that no one on its
staff be named.
Evidence of political evolution is plastered all over Baghdad's
normally drab
concrete blast walls and hung on lampposts at nearly every major
intersection:
large, colorful, graphically appealing posters conveying a wide variety
of punchy
messages.
Television and radio airwaves are replete with slick advertisements
costing
anywhere from $1,250 per minute on al-Sumariya, a Lebanon-based
satellite station
focused on Iraq, to $5,000 per minute on al-Arabiya, a network based in
the United
Arab Emirates that is popular across the Arab world.
In one 30-second spot, a smartly dressed and smiling Allawi --
normally known for
his brusque demeanor -- is shown seated on a stool in a dimly lit
studio. "My faith
is in Iraq," he tells the camera, to underscore his secularism.
Even the arrival of American-style negative campaigning is evidence of
a growing
political sophistication, the election trainers said. In recent days
posters have
started to appear in Sadr City, the vast Shiite slum in north Baghdad,
bearing the
slogan "vote for the Baathist slate," along with a composite photograph
of a face
-- half Allawi's and half Hussein's. Allawi was a member of Hussein's
Baath Party
until the mid-1970s, when he joined Iraq's opposition.
In January, most candidates outside the dominant few parties largely
eschewed
campaigning, fearing they could be kidnapped or assassinated. Now, even
long shots
are getting into the act. One day this week, National Democratic
Institute
instructors explained get-out-the-vote techniques to a dozen members of
the Free
Iraq Gathering, a new coalition that "probably won't get many more
votes than you
see in that room," according to an institute employee.
In another room, a Canadian taught workers from the Iraqi National
Congress, the
party led by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi, how to monitor
polling stations
on election day to prevent cheating and ensure their supporters are
able to vote.
"You are the eyes of the party," he said, warning them to look out for
husbands
trying to cast ballots for their wives or tribal leaders seeking to
vote for their
members. "Your party may have the best solutions for Iraq, but it
doesn't mean a
thing unless people come and put a ballot in the box. You have to
think, I have
seen Mustafa and Mazen vote, but if someone is missing, maybe you call
them up and
offer them a ride to the polls."
As in January, the specter of election-related violence still hangs
over Iraq.
Insurgents have distributed leaflets throughout Anbar province, the
center of the
Sunni-led insurgency, threatening to kill anyone who attempts to vote.
An Iraqi
Islamic Party candidate was gunned down with two party workers on a
highway west of
Baghdad late last month. Allawi escaped unscathed from an attack by
armed
demonstrators in Najaf during a visit there Sunday, and two days later,
a
rocket-propelled grenade struck his party's Najaf office.
In several cities in the Kurdish-populated north on Tuesday,
demonstrators believed
to be loyal to the Kurdistan Democratic Party burned down several local
headquarters of a rival party, the Kurdistan Islamic Union, whose
members recently
withdrew from a KDP-led election coalition. Four party workers were
reportedly
killed in the incidents.
Because of this, several candidates and party workers said, they
cannot apply much
of the advice they get from foreign election workers. At one recent
session,
candidates were encouraged to knock on doors or approach people in
restaurants or
cafes to talk about issues. They were told to write letters and send
them to
everyone they know, outlining their platforms.
"You could get killed . . . and we don't have mail there," said Khalid
Madhia, a
Free Iraqi Gathering candidate from Fallujah. "But it is much easier
this time.
Before, we were running while we were hiding. We don't have to hide
anymore."
Instead of retail politics, candidates rely largely on less direct
means of
contacting voters: Most major parties now have interactive Internet
sites that
provide information about platforms. Several parties employ cell phone
text-messaging technology that allows them to send messages to hundreds
of
potential supporters at once. Funding comes from dues and donations
paid by
members.
Religious leaders are also playing a prominent role in the campaign
through
networks of affiliated mosques, where imams divide their sermons into a
religious
discussion and a political discourse that often touches on the coming
vote.
At the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters, hundreds of cardboard boxes
full of
posters waited to be taken by truck to regional outposts in 14 of
Iraq's 18
provinces. In another room, video editors scrutinized the latest
version of the
party's television ad asking voters to help "end the U.S. occupation."
The spot
runs continuously on an in-house satellite station.
The party had originally decided to compete in last January's
elections despite a
broad Sunni Arab boycott, but it eventually withdrew. Sunni Arabs, who
account for
an estimated 20 percent of Iraq's population, held most top positions
in the
Hussein government but have seen their influence erode significantly
since his
ouster.
"Everyone here is excited. The mood and busyness are so much better
than before
when we just waited to see what would happen," said B.B. Abdul Qadir,
an Iraqi
Islamic Party official who said his party's goal was to win 60 seats in
the
275-seat parliament. "Now we can't wait for the voting to start."
Correspondent Ellen Knickmeyer and special correspondents Naseer Nouri
and Dlovan
Brwari contributed to this report.
