42 Comments

1. Ana January 30th, 2005

   

   Con­grat­u­la­tions. The bless­ings of democ­racy, peace, and pros­per­ity be upon you and your country.

2. Zonie January 30th, 2005

   

   God bless you and con­grat­u­la­tions on your new democ­racy. Fight to keep it!

3. Greg January 30th, 2005

   

   Con­grat­u­la­tions! You were very brave in putting fears aside and doing your given RIGHT to vote for who YOU want!

4. Christy January 30th, 2005

   

   I am so proud of all of you, of your brav­ery, of your sac­ri­fices and I pray for the courage that you will need to con­tinue on this road you have forged. I thank God for our sol­diers who gave their lives for this won­der­ful moment. God bless you all!!!

5. Shawn January 30th, 2005

   

   Con­grat­u­la­tions we in Amer­ica are behind you con­trary to what reports may say. Con­tinue to push for free­dom and you will be blessed!

6. American January 30th, 2005

   

7. reed youmans January 30th, 2005

   

   Con­grat­u­la­tions, Give Zar­qarwi the finger!!

   Reed

8. Autumn January 31st, 2005

   

   What I have seen of the Iraqi peo­ple today — not only the courage to go to the polls, but the smiles, the smiles in the face of threat of life and limb — Happy war­riors are the best!!! To defy by not only turn­ing out to vote in greater per­cent­ages than we Amer­i­cans who some­times take our priv­i­lage to vote for granted, but, to smile along the way is so beau­ti­ful. I feel a true affin­ity for the Iraqis I saw today and a love of their hearts and souls. I can­not for the day, and it will come, that I travel to Iraq with my fam­ily to visit the great land that is to come. I am a proud Amer­i­can today that feels a sis­ter­hood with the young democ­racy a world away. God bless the courage and hope of the Iraqi people!

9. joann king January 31st, 2005

   

   This is a joy­ous day for you. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!! We are so very happy for you and proud of you. This is the day of your country’s “rebirth”. Happy First Demo­c­ra­tic Birth­day Iraqi”.

10. Mike Openshaw January 31st, 2005

    

    The brav­ery of the Iraqi peo­ple, espe­cially the vot­ing Sun­nis like your­self, hum­bles me. I am not sure, given the envi­ron­ment you have faced, whether my Amer­i­can neigh­bors would turn out int the vast num­ber you did. Thank you for val­i­dat­ing the blood sac­ri­fices made by the coura­geous Iraqi and Coali­tion secu­rity forces,

11. glen January 31st, 2005

    

    Thanks for your words.
    Yes­ter­day, I received a phone call from my son who said “Dad, I’m home”. It was so wel­come because he has been a Marine in Iraq for the past 7 months. The first ques­tion he asked me was if the vot­ing had started yet. He was in the very cen­ter of the tough fight­ing in Fal­lu­jah and his time in Iraq has not been pleas­ant, but he sounded as excited about the vot­ing as you must have been. Con­grat­u­la­tions from the dad of a Marine and from, I’m sure, the Marine who was speak­ing to me only hours ago.…

12. Connie January 31st, 2005

    

    I con­grat­u­late the Iraqi peo­ple on their courage. We will keep you in our prayers. It is our hope that the Iraqi peo­ple some­day will have free­doms and pros­per­ity equal to ours.

13. Helen January 31st, 2005

    

    Con­gradu­la­tions more than any­thing you are aproud Iraqi who believes in the pos­si­bil­ity of your coun­try and your cit­i­zen­ship in it.
    Vot­ing has never been just a priv­i­lege but the duty of every cit­i­zen.
    Never for­get this and your coun­try will be as free as you wished for.

14. Eric January 31st, 2005

    

    Con­grat­u­la­tions.

    I am more con­fi­dent today than yes­ter­day that the Iraqi peo­ple will suc­ceed. God bless the Iraqi peo­ple, and god bless their allies and friends.

    Stay strong, lady­bird. In your hands are the fate of a grow­ing nation, the future of a great civ­i­liza­tion, and an ambi­tious peo­ple.
    

15. Michael January 31st, 2005

    

    Years ago the French (yes believe it or not) came to the res­cue of a small nation try­ing to trow off the reign of a ruler­ship that was bru­tal at times and did every­thing to stop free­dom. While the French have for­got­ten the impor­tance of this, most in the US have not. We took no joy in com­ing to Iraq but if the end result is a free Iraq, one we can call firend for many years then the sac­ri­fice in blood will be worth it. The sac­ri­fice is high, oh so high, but the end result is also tremen­dous. I pray for your safety and wis­dom in the tough deci­sions ahead. It appears the mil­i­tants would sen­tence me to death for my sen­ti­ments. No God, where it be the God of Abra­ham or any­one else would ever con­done the killing of inno­cents. I also notice it is always the young who are the sui­cide bombers. Why don’t the lead­ers lead by exam­ple? We all know the answer to that.

    All my best,

    Michael
    Alabama, USA

16. Neal January 31st, 2005

    

    Obvi­ously God wanted the Iraqis to vote.

17. Vince January 31st, 2005

    

    From one amer­i­can to an Iraqi — con­gradu­la­tions on your future, and most of all, your free­dom. May God bless you all.

18. Monica-Philadelphia January 31st, 2005

    

    Con­grat­u­la­tions and thank you for wear­ing the blue ‘badge of courage’. We in Amer­ica stand in awe of the Iraqi peo­ple who voted for free­dom today. Your courage has hon­ored the peo­ple who have given their very lives — Coali­tion AND Iraqi — to get us here today. God Bless you and God Bless a free Iraq!!!

19. Curt January 31st, 2005

    

    Years from now Iraqis will remem­ber heroes from these days. There will be parades and hon­ors remem­ber­ing those gen­er­als and lead­ers who brought free­dom to Iraq.

    Today every Iraqi who voted is a hero — as much as any gen­eral. You are bring­ing free­dom to Iraq. Every man and woman who voted has said that ter­ror and fear will not be per­mit­ted to stand. Be proud — your courage hum­bles me.

    May God bless you and your nation.

20. Ken-Washingotn DC January 31st, 2005

    

    I am by no means a Bush sup­porter and I have had grave doubts about the Amer­i­can led war in Iraq, but I can­not be hap­pier that you know the free­dom to be a part of your own des­tiny that I know of here in Amer­ica. In a spirit only meant to be sup­port­ive, we prayed for you and your coun­try in our church today — for your free­dom, your hap­pi­ness, your future, and your peace. My heart is with you on this day when true his­toric change is hap­pen­ing. I clearly under­stand the his­tor­i­cal impor­tance of this day and give thanks! Peace to you my broth­ers and sis­ters. You deserve it!

21. loupgarou January 31st, 2005

    

    con­grat­u­la­tions on your chance to vote and decide the future of your country.

    I’m from sin­ga­pore, for a democ­racy, I haven’t even got a chance to vote yet (past 2 gen­eral elec­tions already.. walkovers, elec­toral bound­aries and all that..)
    

22. Marsha Doby January 31st, 2005

    

    I am cry­ing with Joy for all the Iraqi peo­ple and may God be with you in your strug­gle ahead.

23. Terry Stalker January 31st, 2005

    

    I am so grate­ful to you and your fel­low coun­try men, I know words. I am hum­bled by your brav­ery and your faith. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    Terry Stalker
    Anchor­age Alaska

24. Peter Ramsey January 31st, 2005

    

    I honor your courage and your faith. Amer­ica has noth­ing to teach Iraq about democ­racy. Maybe you have some­thing to teach us.

25. Drae February 2nd, 2005

    

    Awe­some. Thanks. Con­grat­u­la­tions. I linked to your post.
    Life More Abun­dant: The Elec­tions — In the Words of Iraq

26. Mike P February 14th, 2005

    

    It is a great thing in todays day and age that some­thing pos­i­tive can come from some­thing neg­a­tive. It is now time for Iraqis to take con­trol of thier own future and be the first build­ing block of a new era of coun­tries that put thier peo­ple over thier pol­i­tics. The U.S must now let the peo­ple deter­mine thier own fate. This must be done pri­mar­ily to show the world that the U.S is gen­uine about just want­ing to free the peo­ple. If they do prove to be honourable(even though thier for­eign pol­icy up until now has been self­ish and destruc­tive), the world can hold out hope that we all may live with love for each other, the way God meant it to be.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

1. GOP Bloggers says:

   February 1, 2005 at 23:21

   on their fin­gers when vot­ing. Some wear and and wave it with pride, while some west­ern com­men­ta­tors have sug­gested that ter­ror­ists might go out Mon­day and kill peo­ple with ink on their hands. I found a great descrip­tion of this ink from Iraqi blog­ger Bagh­dad Dweller : Entered on the booths and peo­ple checked my name and I col­ored my fin­ger with this great vot­ing color… The Great Vot­ing Color. I love it! Com­ments (1) | Track­Back (1) [IMG]
2. Clues about the news users choose - Clicked - MSNBC.com says:

   February 1, 2005 at 15:22
3. Life More Abundant says:

   May 24, 2005 at 01:59

   pro-beheading, suicide-bombers, Baathi­est, Sad­damist and anti-peace peo­ple. In Kur­dis­tan and Iraq now, peo­ple check each oth­ers index fin­ger, “Oh you have a nor­mal fin­ger ?!! How come it is not blue ?! You are NOT demo­c­ra­tic at all” From Bagh­dad Dweller : Say it loud and clear: I am a Sunni, I am an Iraqi and I voted From Democ­racy in Iraq (Is Here!) I have changed the header of my page to reflect the new, improved, demo­c­ra­tic Iraq. What a day it has been. I am very tired, but I am at peace,
4. C'mon. Take a Bite. says:

   February 13, 2005 at 21:47

   I find it fas­ci­nat­ing that while we Amer­i­cans are ignor­ing our basic rights, there are those halfway around the globe that are express­ing their views legally for the first time in half a cen­tury. Say it loud and clear: I am a Sunni, I am an Iraqi and I voted. Today I can walk tall, I can say I am Iraqi with a proud not only because I voted but also I fought against ter­ror­ist with my vot­ing bal­lot. I stepped out the car, the vot­ing cen­ter was on the other side of the street, young Iraqi teenagers were
5. Mark A. Kilmer says:

   February 4, 2005 at 17:19
6. bernalchemist says:

   February 3, 2005 at 23:16

   Flickr pho­to­stream says, “This may be the photo of the decade. It will be hard to find any image that is more impor­tant.” A com­mend­able hope, to be sure. *** Essen­tial, atro­cious com­edy. *** “Say it loud and clear: I am a Sunni, I am an Iraqi and I voted” *** Jeff Jarvis says, “Democ­racy isn’t a right-or-left thing, folks. It’s a right-and-left thing, remem­ber?” *** “Irreg­u­lar­i­ties mar north­ern Iraq poll” *** More on it all, here.
7. Dean's World - - says:

   February 3, 2005 at 17:43

   Maybe 4 years from now, I’ll go vote. Let’s just pray that in 4 years things will be much bet­ter that I won’t have to go through all this bat­tle again.. River­bend isn’t much inter­ested in the elec­tion. Her imme­di­ate con­cern is drink­ing water. Bagh­dad Dweller , a Sunni Arab Iraqi, is proud to be Iraqi and proud to be fight­ing ter­ror­ism with his vote: Today I can walk tall, I can say I am Iraqi with a proud not only because I voted but also I fought against ter­ror­ist with my vot­ing ballot.
8. brainstorming says:

   February 2, 2005 at 15:34

   The Mesopotamiam bows in respect and awe to the vot­ers in Sui­cide Bombers V. Sui­cide Vot­ers. Sun of Iraq says, “We will crush the ter­ror­ists. The democ­racy will win.” Bagh­dad Dweller weighs in with, “Say it loud and clear: I am a Sunni, I am an Iraqi and I voted.” Don’t miss this shot at Al-Zarqawi. Democ­racy In Iraq changed the blog name from (Is Com­ing) to (Is Here!) and is hon­ored to report cast­ing his bal­lot. More report­ing at Friends of Democ­racy and don’t miss
9. Meblog says:

   January 30, 2005 at 20:06

   Say it loud and clear: I am a Sunni, I am an Iraqi and I voted Jan­u­ary 30th, 2005
10. IZ Reloaded says:

    January 31, 2005 at 06:18

    Cheers to the Iraqi people

    That’s one small step for Iraqis, one giant leap for democ­racy. Cheers to the peo­ple of Iraq who voted in their first free elec­tions in 50 years. The Iraqis have shown great courage and deter­mi­na­tion to vote despite the threat of ter­ror. The historic …
11. Technosailor » With Decision Day Past, Now Comes the Real Test says:

    January 31, 2005 at 17:18

    were counted as well. Even the French are prais­ing the elec­tion day results. Here is one Sunni Iraqi who voted and is proud of it: Today I can walk tall, I can say I am Iraqi with a proud not only bec […]
12. Kaedrin Weblog says:

    March 18, 2005 at 03:43

    Elec­tions in Iraq

    A roundup of com­men­tary on the elec­tions from all over the blogosphere
13. VTXOA / VTXRiders.com :: View topic - Progress in Iraq not as we were told? says:

    January 3, 2006 at 17:32

    […] Et tu ad hominem. I think we’ve pro­duced results. http://www.roadstoiraq.com/?p=180_________________Perception is Truth! But only my per­cep­tion counts […]
14. Kaedrin Weblog says:

    January 21, 2006 at 05:37

    […] Bagh­dad Dweller: “Say it loud and clear: I am a Sunni, I am an Iraqi and I voted” He also has an exclu­sive pic­ture of Al-Zarqawi and he wants to know why so many Amer­i­cans don’t think Democ­racy will work in Iraq… […]
15. Crossing the Rubicon2: January 2005 says:

    March 15, 2006 at 22:25

    […] From Bagh­dad Dweller — this is so wonderful:Say it loud and clear: I am a Sunni, I am an Iraqi and I voted […]
16. This Fucking War: January 2005 says:

    April 1, 2006 at 01:27

    […] The pur­ple fin­ger rev­o­lu­tion. “I walked for­ward to my sta­tion, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my fin­ger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was pok­ing the eyes of all the world’s tyrants.“IMT“One prob­lem was the spe­cial ink that vot­ers have to dab their fin­gers with. Many Iraqis were con­cerned that insur­gents would catch them on their way back to Bagh­dad and recog­nise peo­ple who had voted.“Healing Iraq“All these fin­gers are up for you ter­ror­ist, anti-democracy, pro-beheading, suicide-bombers, Baathi­est, Sad­damist and anti-peace people.“Kurdo’s WorldBy the way Kur­dos and Zeyad blogs were fea­tured on the BBC clip they were play­ing on C-SPAN tonight“This is a very hur­ried mes­sage, while we are wit­ness­ing some­thing quite extra­or­di­nary. I myself have voted and so did mem­bers of my fam­ily. Thank God for giv­ing us the chance.Salaam for now“The Mesopotamian“My seven-year old daugh­ter Deb­bie was moved by the pho­tos of your people’sbravery in this his­toric moment, and wanted to send you her best wishes fromKo­rea. As we saw those fin­gers raised in defi­ance, we both agreed, “God _is_great indeed.“Hammorabi“Entered on the booths and peo­ple checked my name and I col­ored my fin­ger with this great vot­ing color and I got my bal­lot which was very big (in the size of a poster) all I had to do is to put a sign beside my cho­sen party, to be hon­est I was very slow when putting the sign because I wanted to enjoy the moment, putting the bal­lot in the box was the most dif­fi­cult emo­tional time, when I fin­ished Iraqis (which I don’t know) came to con­grat­u­lat­ing me and shak­ing my hands“Baghdad Dweller“victory“Diary from Bagh­dadAc­tu­ally I’m a bit jeal­ous, all we get is a sticker. spans = document.getElementsByTagName(‘span’); num­ber = 0; for(i=0; i < spans.length; i++){ var c = ” ” + spans[i].className + ” “; if (c.indexOf(“fullpost”) != –1) num­ber++; } if(number != mem­ory){ document.write(‘Read More’); } mem­ory = number; […]