Iraqi voting begins abroad

I think the war was a mistake - perhaps the greatest strategic blunder of any US president since Vietnam. Nevertheless, I am touched by the sentiments of these Iraqi exiles and Iraqi-Americans as they cast their votes. Cost-benefit analyses aside, I still hope for a better future for Iraq. (From AP.)

Adim Altalibi struggled to hold back tears Friday after voting in an Iraqi election for the first time. All he could think about were his five nephews, all killed under Saddam Hussein's regime.

``We lost a lot of our young men and women struggling against Saddam Hussein. It's paid off now,'' said Altalibi, 55, an engineer who left Iraq in 1987 and cast his ballot Friday at a suburban Detroit voting site that was once an abandoned home-improvement store.

Isho Mishail, 40, a driving instructor who was voting at the Chicago polling place, said it is important for him to vote because he does not know if his relatives in Iraq will have the same luxury. Insurgents ``went to the houses and threatened them, `If you go to the polls, we'll kill everyone in the house,''' Mishail said.

..."Ten to 20 years from now, all the generations will remember that this is the first time we practiced our freedom of choice,'' said Alshimmari, 49, who worked as a history teacher and was jailed by Saddam before leaving Iraq in 1991.