Isle soldiers help keep
polls safe amid attacks

Election day in Iraq. With all the enemy activity around our region and the rest of the country, A Company and the rest of 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry "Gimlets," were preparing for the worst-case scenarios. We have conducted endless hours mentoring and training our Iraqi security force counterparts in preparation for (yesterday's) elections.

In the middle of the night, we began to preposition forces, attempting to prevent and deter our enemy from making the first move. Our Iraqi army attachments began the emplacement of metal and wire barriers throughout our area of operation in order to control any unauthorized traffic.

Throughout the night, we could hear gunbattles around the city. Rocket-propelled grenades, machine gun fire and AK-47 tracers lit up the sky. All attempts to damage polling stations or break the will of Iraqi forces performing their duties were quelled.

1st Platoon, led by 1st Lt. Richard Lane and Staff Sgt. Robert Ryder; 2nd Platoon, led by 2nd Lt. Joel Evans and Sgt. 1st Class Richard Woodruff; and 3rd Platoon, led by 1st Lt. Timothy Bullock and Sgt. 1st Class Austin Brown, were in position a few hours before the polls opened.

6:10 a.m. » We are getting first reports from our platoons that people are starting to form lines outside polling stations.

6:45 a.m. » A mortar round lands in a field just south of the patrol base. Everyone standing near me just gave that look. I heard one soldier say, "Game on."

6:50 a.m. » Capt. Derek Bird departed with the first Quick Reaction Force to assess our area of operation.

7 a.m. » Polls are open.

COURTESY SGT. APRIL JOHNSON A man assisted by his son demanded to leave the hospital to vote yesterday. In his right hand is a colostomy bag in a plastic sack. His son is carrying his intravenous drip.

7:10 a.m. » A second mortar round explodes near the same area of the first one. No casualties or damage were reported.

7:25 a.m. » Two mortars could be heard launching in the distance south of the patrol base. Faint explosions were heard identifying the impacts as quite a distance from my location. Even though these mortars were being launched, it was not deterring the people from coming out to vote.

As we drove around our area of operation, the citizens were out in huge numbers. It seemed to be a quiet celebration of what was yet to come.

Lines were forming outside all of the polling stations with people dressed in their Sunday best. There were some women dressed in traditional celebration outfits, elderly people in wheelchairs, parents carrying their children.

This seemed to be an event the citizens of Kirkuk were not going to miss, and something they were going to relish the rest of their lives.

The entire day, we visited our polling sites, talking with the people. There was one common remark most people were making: "I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. We are so happy and so grateful for the soldiers of the United States. Thank you."

15:45 p.m. » A mortar round hits a few hundred meters from our location. For a split second, people looked around, then they carried on with what they were doing.

5 p.m. » The polls are closed.

If I had one word to summarize today's activities, it would be victory. Victory because the enemy was either outsmarted or suppressed by the enormous presence in the city.

Victory because we were able to secure all the polling sites in Kirkuk with no casualties to either Iraqi or coalition forces. Victory because the citizens of Iraq were able to vote and have some say-so in the future of their country.

‘We broke a barrier
of fear’

Terrorists kill 44 but cannot
derail the achievement of
the historic election

BAGHDAD, Iraq » Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers yesterday, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they could not walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century.

"We broke a barrier of fear," said Mijm Towirish, an election official.

Uncertain Sunni turnout, a string of insurgent attacks that killed 44, the crash of a British military plane that killed about 10 troops and the deaths of two U.S. servicemen in Anbar province drove home that chaos in Iraq is not over yet.

Yet the mere fact the vote went off seemed to ricochet instantly around a world hoping for Arab democracy and fearing Islamic terrorism.

"I am doing this because I love my country, and I love the sons of my nation," said Shamal Hekeib, 53, who walked 20 minutes with his wife to a polling station near his Baghdad home. "We are Arabs. We are not scared and we are not cowards."

With helicopters flying low and gunfire close by, at least 200 voters stood calmly in line at midday outside one polling station in the heart of Baghdad. Inside, the tight security included at least four body searches and a ban on lighters, cell phone batteries, cigarette packs and even pens.

The feeling was sometimes festive. One election volunteer escorted a blind man back to his home after he cast his vote. A woman too frail to walk by herself arrived on a cart pushed by a young relative. Entire families showed up in their finest clothes.

But for the country's minority Sunni Arabs, who held a privileged position under Saddam Hussein, the day was not as welcome.

No more than 400 people voted in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, and in the heavily Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah in northern Baghdad, where Saddam made his last known public appearance in early April 2003, the four polling places never even opened.

The electoral commission said it believed, based on that anecdotal information, that turnout among the estimated 14 million eligible Iraqi voters appeared greater than the 57 percent that had been predicted, although it would be some time before any precise turnout figure was confirmed.

The ticket endorsed by the leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was the pre-voting favorite, while Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's slate was also considered strong. Officials said it might take 10 days to determine the vote's winner.

"The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East," said President Bush, who called the election a success. He promised the United States would continue training Iraqi soldiers, hoping they can soon secure a country America invaded nearly two years ago to topple Saddam.

Many leaders around the world also praised the election, but others cautioned that it was too early to declare the vote a total success.

The vote to elect a 275-member National Assembly and 18 provincial legislatures was only the first step on Iraq's road to self-rule and stability. Once results are in, it could take weeks of back-room deals before a prime minister and government are picked by the new assembly.

If that government proves successful by drawing in the minority Sunni Arabs who partly shunned the election, the country could stabilize, hastening the day when 150,000 U.S. troops can go home.

With the polls just closed, international debate immediately turned to just that issue. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid plans to call today for President Bush's administration to outline an exit strategy for Iraq.

Despite the string of attacks, a people steeled to violence by years of war, sanctions, the brutality of Saddam's regime and U.S. military occupation were not deterred from the polls.

In heavily Shiite areas in the far south and mostly Kurdish regions in the north, some saw the vote as settling a score with the former dictator, Saddam.

"Now I feel that Saddam is really gone," said Fatima Ibrahim, smiling as she headed home after voting in Irbil. She was 14 and a bride of just three months when her husband, father and brother were rounded up in a campaign of ethnic cleansing under Saddam. None have ever been found.