By Peggy Gish
30 January 2005

Ninety-year-old Keleje smiled widely as she walked out of the voting station in a school on the edge of Kerbala, where she voted for the first time in her life. Over the doorway of the school a sign in Arabic read, “Today is the real Iraq wedding.”

Ahmed Mohammed Hussein, an elderly man near a polling station in central Kerbalay other Iraqis in Kerbala, echoed this hopeful spirit as he said, “We voted in a democratic atmosphere. We are happy and hope this will give us a better life.”

By Maxine Nash
29 January 2005

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) recently conducted a five-day training for Muslim peacemakers at the request of a human rights organization in Kerbala. The training was held in Kerbala at the office of the human rights organization from January 22-26, 2005. Four CPTers, Peggy Gish, Cliff Kindy, Maxine Nash, and Allan Slater conducted the highly participatory training.

Each day of the training had a different focus. These included: stories of non-violent peacemaking, the power of non-violence, the spirituality of non-violence, planning for public actions, and on the last day various smaller topics were covered including trauma and self-care, working with media and human rights documentation.

by Phyllis Bennis

Institute for Policy Studies

• The millions of Iraqis who came out for the elections were voting their hopes for an end to violence and occupation, and a better life; their hopes are not likely to be met.
• George Bush will be the major victor in this election, using it to claim legitimacy for his occupation of Iraq . This election does not mean that the invasion and occupation of Iraq is legitimate - democracy cannot be imposed at the point of a gun.
• The election, held under military occupation and not meeting international criteria, including those of the Carter Center , remains illegitimate; legitimacy is not determined by the number of people voting.
• Even the expected victory of Shi’a-led political parties is not likely to result in the new assembly calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.
• U.S. domination of Iraq ’s economic, political and social life will continue through the military occupation and the continuing control of money, the legal system, and political patronage.
• The U.S. has a long history of using elections held under conditions of war and occupation to legitimize its illegal wars - the January 2005 elections in Iraq mirror the 1967 election held in South Viet Nam , also held to give credibility to Washington’s puppet government.

The individual Iraqis who came out to vote clearly were very brave and eager to reclaim control of their country. They were voting for their hopes, for secure streets so children can go to school, for electricity and clean water, for jobs, and mostly for an end to the U.S. occupation. The elections, however, are unlikely to achieve any of those goals; the violence is likely to continue, perhaps even increase. The U.S. occupation is STILL the problem, not the solution, in Iraq , and only bringing the U.S. troops home, not imposing elections under continuing occupation, will lead to an end of violence.