From: Artillo5@cs.com
Date: Thu Oct 17 2002 - 11:05:03 MDT
WOW I'm impressed! They counted all 11 million votes in one day?!! Why don't
we hire some Iraqis to handle our voting? LOL Un-friggin-believeably obvious
propaganda... will someone figure out just how long it would ACTUALLY take to
count 11 million paper ballots?
My guess is that anyone voting "no" was summarily deported (aka executed)
from the country.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iraq-election1017oct
17,0,5323537.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dworld%2Dheadlines
Saddam: Iraqis Confident After Vote
By SAMEER N. YACOUB
Associated Press Writer
October 17, 2002, 7:09 AM EDT
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- raqi President Saddam Hussein said the referendum
re-electing him for another seven years has increased the determination of
Iraq's people to fight for their country, Iraqi media reported Thursday.
Saddam spoke Wednesday at a meeting of the Revolutionary Command Council,
Iraq's main decision-making government body, the official daily al-Iraq said.
The meeting was shown on state television but -- as usual for Iraq TV --
without sound. The broadcast came after Iraq announced that 100 percent of
the more than 11 million Iraqis casting ballots in Tuesday's referendum voted
"yes" on extending Saddam's term.
"After announcement of the referendum's results, Iraqis have become more
confident in the future and more determined to fight for and to build their
country," al-Iraq quoted Saddam as saying.
He also criticized the United States for what he said was an effort to sway
the vote's outcome by intensifying a propaganda drive against his leadership.
"This shows that they (the Americans) are ignorant of the psychology of the
Iraqi people ... especially when such peoples have trusted their leaders and
chosen the right path," he said.
He added that the U.S. administration was "incapable of knowing the
psychology and the reaction of the Iraqi people."
In scenes shown on TV, the Command Council members did most of the talking
while Saddam listened. Saddam was in a suit and waved his glasses around for
emphasis at times when he spoke. The members -- all in military uniforms --
leaned attentively toward Saddam, who is the council chairman.
Tuesday's referendum was ridiculed by Iraqis in exile and was described as
"not serious" by the United States.
Baghdad erupted in celebratory gunfire after announcement of the vote
Wednesday morning, but the city seemed normal for the rest of the day. On
Thursday, the only sign of Saddam's victory was one line of honking cars
decorated with ribbons and Saddam posters, presumably organized by his Baath
Party.
On Thursday, the Babil newspaper owned by Saddam's eldest son, Odai, carried
the headline: "100 Percent is Not Enough! To Express our Love and Loyalty to
Saddam Hussein."
The United States, which accuses Iraq of possessing weapons of mass
destruction, is pressing for a new U.N. Security Council resolution that
would give U.N. weapons inspectors broad powers to search for hidden arms in
Iraq.
Washington wants a clause in the resolution authorizing a war against Iraq if
it resists full inspections, but France has been leading a campaign against a
so-called automatic trigger.
Iraq has been under U.N. Security Council sanctions since invading Kuwait in
1990. U.N. resolutions require the country to destroy all its weapons of mass
destruction. The sanctions cannot be lifted unless the weapons inspectors
declare the country free of prohibited weapons.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
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