ABC News reports that Iraq’s citizens dangle over the edge of a dangerous precipice and things couldn’t look grimmer.
Tonight Iraq is in lockdown ahead of tomorrow's historic election. Cars are banned from the streets — even the candidates are banned from the streets. There is no campaigning allowed in the 24 hours before polls open at 7 a.m. tomorrow.
Walking around Baghdad this afternoon, several Iraqis were playing soccer on the streets. Most told us they plan to vote tomorrow. One sweaty soccer player told us, "We're tired. We just want a government that's going to make our life easier." If only they could elect United States Democrats, but it just won’t be possible.
Voters will be faced with a dizzying array of candidates on a crowded ballot. “The ballot is so confusing,” one Iraqi told reporters. With nearly 7,000 candidates from more than 300 parties contesting the election, there's little to separate them, apart from the religious or ethnic group they represent.
If the Iraqis make the wrong choice, things may take a turn for the worse.
Today there was a word of caution from a prominent Sunni politician, Saleh al Mutlaq. In the garden of his dingy party headquarters in western Baghdad as American choppers clattered overhead, he told me the only hope for Iraq is a broad and secular government.
If Jafaari is re-elected, he told me, "It is a civil war. I have no doubt there will be a civil war between the government and the oppositions. I don't mean between Sunni and Shia. I mean between the government and its people."
Grim news indeed, on the eve of the election. ABC News will keep you updated on any more negative spin they can excrete from their rectums.
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It's pretty sad that the italicized portions are the only ones NOT copied and pasted from the ABC article.
Linked on Bacon Break, Mudville Gazette
Satire (sort of), Media Bias, Iraq, Grim Milestone
