eeeELECTION FEVER!
Mood:  silly
Topic: 1/30, come hell or...hell
This Sunday is the big day in Iraq! The successful interim govenrment will help in having the first Free election in Iraq! I am just sure everything will just get swell after THAT happens. Afterall, they caught the car bomb mastermind so there won't be any more of those! Everyone in Iraq is right behind the election too so they will be free and fair and likely have a HUGE turn out!

Wait a second...?

(NY TIMES)
"Insurgents unleashed a string of fierce attacks across central and northern Iraq today that left nearly a dozen Iraqis and an American marine dead. The militant group led by the country's most-wanted guerrilla posted an Internet video showing the fatal shooting of a candidate representing the prime minister's party in Sunday's elections."

But...But...Dubya said that Sunday was going to be "A great moment?!" Surely, that must be an abberation, I mean there shouldn't be any more car bombs or anyone else killed, right? This will be a 100% legitamte election!

"The execution of the candidate, Salem Jaafar al-Kanani, was one of the most personal strikes yet against Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. The interim prime minister heads a list of candidates that is expected to perform well on Sunday, when millions of Iraqis are expected to vote in the country's first multiparty elections in decades. The video was posted by the group led by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who vowed earlier this week to wage all-out war on the process of "democracy."

The killing of Mr. Kanani, who was shot at least three times in the chest, and the spate of attacks, which included suicide car bombings in the besieged cities of Samarra and Baquba, appeared intended to sow fear among Iraqis as they weigh whether to vote in the elections for a national assembly and provincial councils.

Several of the assaults were aimed at Iraqi security forces. American and Iraqi officials fear that a steady drumbeat of violence before the vote could dissuade people from showing up at polling stations, thus casting doubt on the legitimacy of the elections."

Well, I guess this Zarqawi fella IS real. But surely these "terrorists insurgents" are a clear minority and won't effect the election results much.

"Powerful Sunni groups like the Muslim Scholars Association, which says it represents 3,000 mosques across Iraq, have called for a boycott of the elections. Many Sunnis fear that the elections are the means by which Americans will install a government dominated by the majority Shiites."

Sounds great! Must be a great day to be working for Allawi. To close this meager post I give you this from the end of the Zarqawi tape:

"To Allawi's aides, 'We tell you repent to God before you meet the same fate as your friend. We will not get tired of chasing you as long as we're alive.'"

These guys seem more dedicated than anyone else over there, or is it just me?