With all of the speculations and opinions from the pundits and "experts" over what the Iraqi people want and don't want, I wanted to share a letter I received from a personal friend who is serving in the area. He is working as a liaison with the Iraqi locals. Here is something he just sent to me:
"I'm sure that, as I'm writing this, the cable news channels are filled with stories of bombings, intimidations and boycotts. Please try to read between the lines of all these reports. The people here want to vote and are pretty enthusiastic about the idea. In Baghdad alone, there are over 25,000 IECI (Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq) workers who have been living in their polling stations already for a couple days. These people want to vote so much that they have volunteered to make it possible for others to vote. Remember that, for every news story about a bombing, there are many, many more instances of someone turning someone in for building an IED (improvised explosive device), or volunteering to man a polling station, or simply planning to vote.
"Tomorrow's vote will not be perfect. It may be contested by people who want it to fail. There may be some irregularities, but I'm guessing that they will be oversights or honest mistakes. The real tragedy will be the unfortunate reality that quite a few people will die because there are evil people who want this to fail.
"Having said all that, I believe that most of the approximately nine million registered voters will turn out and vote, and that, broadly speaking, this election will succeed" -- Maj. Richard Smudin, U.S. Army.
As we have heard in the papers recently, roughly eight million people voted, despite killings, threats and fear. To me, this puts two things into perspective: First, don't believe all that the "experts" have to say. Go to the source when looking for truth. Second, what does it say about our society when we consider it great to have 50 percent of the registered voters turn out?
God bless the men and women of our armed forces and their mission.
Keith Robinson
Greensboro
