Spinning the elections in Iraq.

The 'historic' day has arrived. People are proceeding to the polls, and the press is (as usual) spinning the story to fit its own preconceived notions. Let's take a look at reports citing the good and the bad.

From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, an unsurprisingly upbeat report:

With polls about to close across Iraq, voter turnout is reportedly high and, so far, insurgents appear to have failed to carry out threats of spectacular attacks.

The UN's top election adviser in Iraq, Carlos Valenzuela, says that voter turnout -- at least in "some parts" of the country -- is exceeding expectations. He did not give any firm figures, but he said his estimate is based on reports from the polling booths.

Adel al-Lami, a spokesman for Iraq's Independent Election Commission, told reporters that the turnout shortly before polls were due to close was 72 percent of registered voters.

But let's give them credit for putting a cloud inside their silver lining:

Polling stations in Sunni-populated central and north central Iraq -- where insurgents have most active over the past months -- are reported to be largely empty.

Still, if security is uppermost in many minds today, it is unclear whether that alone is keeping voters at home in the most restive areas of central and north central Iraq. There, some Sunni community leaders have repeatedly called for a boycott of the polls both out of security concerns and out of fears the vote will turn power over to the Shi'a majority.

From a decidedly less optimistic Reuters UK:

Insurgents have unleashed a wave of bloody attacks on Iraq's historic election, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens in suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations across the country.

Militants determined to wreck Iraq's first multi-party elections in half a century struck mainly in Baghdad, carrying out nine suicide attacks in rapid succession.

And just to remind people of all that could go wrong (without, of course, highlighting any of what could go right):

Many Shi'ite and Kurdish voters braved the insurgents' threats of an election day bloodbath. But in Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland, where violence has been fiercest, few people ventured out and some polling centres remained shuttered.

A low Sunni turnout could undermine the credibility of Iraq's first election since Saddam Hussein was toppled in a U.S.-led invasion in April 2003.

Many fear that instead of quelling the anti-American insurgency, the poll could foment sectarian strife, delaying any withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from the country.

In fairness to Reuters, this report was released an hour earlier.

From Al-Jazeera, a story apparently filed early in the day - and running contrary to some of the more optimistic reports emerging from Mosul, Samarra, and Fallujah:

A number of Mosul's Kurdish residents have defied death threats and an unstable security situation and headed towards the polls, but in some other Iraqi cities no one is voting.

As polls opened across the country, early signs showed a poor turnout of voters in Mosul. US soldiers were seen driving around city blocks asking why residents were not voting.

In war-ravaged Falluja, nearly all residents stayed at home despite the presence of five polling stations. Only one man was reported to have voted.

Meanwhile, the head of the local council in Samarra said no citizens would vote because of the poor security situation.

"Nobody will vote in Samarra because of the security situation," said Taha Husain, the head of Samarra's local governing council.

When you think about it, things must be going pretty durn'd well for Al-Jazeera to be stuck with so little to harp on....

For those not interested in nuance, we have the 100% bad news from Robert Fisk:

In Baghdad on Saturday they were supposed to be preparing for an election. But they were preparing for war.

The American Bradley armoured vehicles on the streets, the United States foot patrols, the old Russian personnel carriers that Saddam Hussein bought on the cheap from the Soviet Union - now dressed up in the dull camouflage paint of the new Iraqi army - the hooded and masked policemen: they do not look like the prelude to an experiment in democracy. They are all waiting for the rivers of blood of which insurgents have warned. But there will be democracy in Iraq.

The mortars rained down yesterday morning on the Green Zone where the US and British embassies are located, a "thumpety-thump-thump" that brought the American Apache choppers over the surrounding highways in less than 30 seconds - but the insurgents had disappeared.

Then a fierce gun battle broke out in the very centre of Baghdad between Americans and insurgents. Too late again. The gunmen got away. Fantasy attacks before a fantasy election. Many Iraqis do not know the names of the candidates, let alone their policies.

...and the near-100% good news from Wired:

Millions of Iraqis turned out to vote Sunday, defying anti-U.S. insurgents determined to drown the historic poll in blood.

Suicide bombs and mortar fire shadowed the event, the first multi-party election in 50 years, killing at least 22 people. But still voters came out in force, many with resolve, some with fanfare and others with their faces hidden.

Even in Falluja, the devastated Sunni city west of Baghdad that was a militant stronghold until a U.S. assault in November, a slow stream of people turned out, confounding expectations.

"We want to be like other Iraqis, we don't want to always be in opposition," said Ahmed Jassim, smiling after voting.

In Baquba, a rebellious city northeast of Baghdad, crowds clapped and cheered at one voting station. In Mosul, scene of some of the worst insurgent attacks in recent months, U.S. and local officials said turnout was surprisingly high.

I'm sorry Mr. Fisk is unhappy with an election that will likely represent the will of over half of Iraq's voting population. And I'm sorry he chose to stress nothing but the negative aspects of an event that is clearly, for many Iraqis, a momentous occasion. Perhaps he would have enjoyed the much more peaceful, and much less contentious proceedings in Iraq's LAST elections. Here's what one elderly Iraqi from Najaf had to say about that:

"I had often been forced to vote under Saddam Hussein. Today I come out of my own will to choose freely the candidate of my choice for the first and last time in my life," said 80-year-old Mahdeya Saleh in the holy city of Najaf.

So how many votes do you think Saddam racked up this time around?

I think I express the opinions (and hopes) of the majority of those paying attention to Iraq's elections when I express excitement at the prospect of free and fair elections, deep respect for the courage of Iraqis choosing to vote under dangerous conditions, and optimism that such elections will eventually lead to a stable, unified Iraq acting on the will of its people.

I'm not a religious man...but I think a word of prayer for those risking their lives today in Iraq would be in order.

From the Counterterrorism Blog.

Mike Ubaldi at uBlog provides some poignant pictures and his usual refreshing (if ocasionally unjustified...at least in my eyes...) optimism.

Hindrocket at Power Line offers this upbeat story - among others. Power Line also takes the time to frown upon Mr. Fisk.

Chrenkoff's coverage is, of course, as thorough (and upbeat) as one is likely to find.

So far my Blog references have focused on the positive (mainly because I consider this a "positive until proven otherwise" event). I'll take a look for the flip side tomorrow....

Iraq
Elections