Iraqi Democracy

Al Jazeera reports:

Thousands of Iraqi detainees who have not been brought to trial have been allowed to vote in Iraq's constitutional referendum at prisons such as the notorious Abu Ghraib detention centre, officials said.

It was not immediately known if the voters included prisoner Saddam Hussein.

The Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq had said the former leader would be allowed to vote, but its general director, Adel Allami, said on Thursday he did not know whether Saddam was.

...In the rest of Iraq, voting would not be held in the constitutional referendum until Saturday.

"The referendum on the draft constitution started early today in all Iraqi and US-run prisons in Baghdad and other provinces," said Husham Al-Suhail, an official with Iraq's Human Rights Ministry.

"Our crews are observing the referendum process at all of the prisons, including Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca," he said in an interview.

Said Arikat, a spokesman for the UN operation in Iraq, which had dropped off 10,000 copies of the draft constitution at the US prisons, confirmed that voting was under way there.

...Many of the detainees are believed to be Sunni Muslim Arabs who were rounded up by US and Iraqi forces on suspicion of supporting Sunni-led anti-government groups.

Detainees also are being held at Iraqi prisons around the country.

The voting began early on Thursday morning at one such Iraqi facility, a prison holding about 260 inmates, including ordinary criminals and suspected armed fighters, in Samawah, a mostly Shia Muslim city about 370km southeast of Baghdad.

There, journalists were allowed to watch detainees as they were searched by police, then lined up in a room of the prison to cast their votes.

"It is a good feeling to be free to vote in the referendum," one prisoner said from behind the bars to an Associated Press Television News crew.

Other prisoners shouted, "Yes, yes, to the constitution."

Kalid Hamza, an Independent Electoral Commission official who was monitoring the voting there, said it started at 7am and that one-third of the inmates had voted by midday.

Detainees, including insurgents, suspected enemies of democracy in Iraq, have been allowed to vote on the referendum.

Even Saddam Hussein is reportedly getting an opportunity to vote!

Incredible, isn't it?

Maybe someone could help me with this.

Did "detainees" in Stalin's gulags get to vote?

Well, well, well.

All those tortured Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib are participating in their country's election. Granted, they may have to cast their votes while wearing underwear on their heads. I don't know. Perhaps Dick Durbin could clarify. He's the expert on what's going on at the "notorious" Abu Ghraib.

Yesterday in Stockholm, after giving a speech at an economic forum, Al Gore made reference to the U.S. torture policies. In addition, he commented on the utopia we'd be living in if he had won the 2000 election.

Again, Gore spelled out his belief that the U.S. military habitually engages in torture.

I wonder if Gore considers voting to be torturous. I can understand why he would view counting votes as a form of torture, but not casting votes.

When asked how the United States would have been different if he had become president, though, he had harsh criticism for Mr. Bush's policies.

"We would not have invaded a country that didn't attack us," he said, referring to Iraq. "We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families."

"We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people," Gore said. "We would be a different country."

Gore did not elaborate. But last year, he blamed Bush administration policies for the inmate abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

I cited Gore's remarks in full because his vision of America under President Bush is so...interesting.

Actually, his delusions are quite sad.

Back to the issue of prisoner abuse---

Someone should let Gore know that the detainees we are "routinely torturing" are participating in Iraq's election. He looks foolish going around the world and making such uninformed statements.

Gore is definitely in need of an intervention. The man needs help.

Again, I digress.

I think it's great that prisoners are in favor of democracy, shouting, "Yes, yes, to the constitution."

That's much better than chanting, "Death to America."