Voters in Mosul Need a Shield of Snipers -NYT

[Rose Siding]

Snipers are taking up positions across Mosul. The concrete barriers around the voting sites are up. The actual polling stations are being opened, replacing the decoys set up to deceive the insurgents.

An election will be held Sunday in this violence-racked city of 1.6 million, but it remains an open question here - as in so many other Sunni Arab cities where the insurgent presence is strong - whether enough people will brave the dangers to vote in significant numbers.

"Mosul is a hot spot," said Salem Isa, the head of security for Nineveh Province. "We have special security plans and will try to take all the possible steps to get them to the boxes peacefully."

It will not be easy. Even handling election materials is considered so dangerous that ballots and ballot boxes will be distributed to the 80 polling centers by armored American military convoys. "The military has to do it because of the security situation," said Khaled Kazar, the head of the elections commission here. "No one would ever volunteer to move this stuff."

http://nytimes.com/2005/01/28/international/middleeast/28mosul.html?hp&ex=1106888400&en=2d57a49aa3a0624a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[BayCityProgressive]

1. Let freedom ring!

Iraq is so much better off now that Saddam is gone!

[leesa]

2. Democracy in action!