One Voter, One Ballot (Offer Available till Noon)

If the early reports for voter turnout in Iraq are true (and remember, the numbers in January were originally estimated much higher than they turned out to be, for some reason), perhaps the U.S. needs to be invaded so we can realize more of us should vote. Then again, it sounds as if some of the birthpangs of Iraqi democracy needed a better midwife, or at the least my tortured metaphor needs to force in a printer with lots more ballots on hand. On NPR tonight Anne Garrels, who, it must be pointed out, has spent more time in harm's way during wars than W., Cheney, Rumsfeld and numerous other chickenhawks combined, reported from Fallujah, interviewing Iraqis amidst the rubble from our attempts at destroying the city to save it from terrorists. She related that many polling places ran out of ballots, including one site that claimed out of 4000 who came to vote, only 2000 did. She asserts that 11 of 35 polling stations reported problems. Perhaps this just means that Fallujah is Arabic for Ohio.

There's also good odds that John Murtha garnered more votes than President Bush, although admittedly both were no more than write-in candidates. Garrels says that to a person, every Iraqi she talked to wanted a timetable for U.S. withdrawal as proof we would eventually leave. That's the way things go--give people the vote and the next thing you know, they don't want to be occupied anymore.