Vote or Die...

Insty has the Iraqi voting roundup. One of the most interesting links there is Cigars in the Sand, which has intersting coverage. For the record, there were 9 homicide bombings that killed 31 people. Voter turnout 72%

72%

Think about that. It's a statistic, which makes it cold and meaningless. But it means a lot. Think about it. 31 people died trying to vote in Iraq, yet turnout was 72%. In the US, voting doesn't involve the possiblity of death. There is nobody putting up billboards saying they will kill everyone with an "I voted" sticker the way that Iraqi "insurgents" were claiming that they would kill anyone with ink on their finger indicating that they voted. Yet in the U.S, where voting means a few minutes in a church basement or firehouse lobby, about 50% of people usually vote in presidental elections. In Iraq, where voting means the possibility that you will be killed, where voting means going through airport security type searches, 72% of people voted.

It's also interesting that there is no outrage from the left about the "insurgents" blowing up polling places. See, in the US, they tend to see every hickup in the voting process as a Rovian plan for disenfranchisement. If someone can't read a ballot, or there is a long wait at the polling place, or someone gets pulled over on the way to the polling place, it's an attempt at disenfranchisement at the highest levels of the Republican party. But when an Iraqi "insurgent" blows up a polling place, they are just resisting an occupying force. Am I the only person who finds this odd?