Wednesday, February 02, 2005

From the 'Striking a Blow for Democracy' file...

Media Matters has a summary...
The Washington Post reported on February 1: "Insurgents made good on their repeated threats to attack Iraq's polling stations on election day, unleashing car and suicide bombs, mortars, rockets, small-arms fire and grenades in 109 separate attacks, according to U.S. officials." That followed similar accounts on January 31 by Knight Ridder and the Associated Press, among others. A list of election-day attacks on CNN.com that resulted in deaths or injuries includes descriptions of attacks at polling places, including one in which "suicide bomber detonated explosives while standing in line at the Maysaloun polling station," killing three and wounding nine.

Two U.S. Marines were among the 45 people killed in Iraq on election day, including a Marine killed while guarding an Iraqi polling station, as The Cincinnati Enquirer reported on January 31 (and in more detail on February 1). The Los Angeles Times noted on January 31: "Seven U.S. soldiers were injured when an insurgent lobbed a hand grenade over the wall of a polling site in northwest Mosul, just after the gates had closed for the day."
While it seems popular in some circles to dismiss the deaths of 45 people, including two US Marines, as a minor detail barely worthy of note in the magnificent glow surrounding the Iraqi elections, I still think they're worthy of mourning. And I'm left to wonder how many were injured but managed to survive. Don't they deserve a bit of sympathy amid the celebrations?

And, jeebus. How democratic an election can you really have in an environment of widespread violence, demoninational boycotts and military occupation? Seems fair to ask...

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