No news was good news: Iraq's still-dangerous elections were quiet
Monday, February 2, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
BAGHDAD Ñ Iraq, bolstered by enhanced airborne reconnaissance, has succeeded in conducting national elections almost without a hitch.
Officials said Iraqi and U.S. forces joined to help significantly reduce violence during provincial elections on Jan. 31. They said election violence, unlike that in 2005, did not stop voting in any of Iraq's 18 provinces. "This gives a picture of trust in the government, the elections and the people's right to take part in this democratic process," Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said.
Officials said Iraq's military and police combined to impose tight security measures around polling stations throughout the country. They said authorities enforced a night curfew, banned traffic in downtown Baghdad and closed airports and land and sea border crossings.
The vote count was scheduled to begin on Feb. 1. Results were expected within 72 hours.
Most of the violence Ñ which included the killing of three candidates Ñ was reported in northern Iraq. In Mosul, U.S. soldiers killed two Iraqi plainclothes policemen during an operation against Al Qaida near an Iraqi checkpost in Mosul.
"Despite multiple attempts to identify themselves, the [U.S.] force continued to receive hostile fire," a U.S. military statement said on Jan. 31. "Acting in self defense, coalition forces returned fire. Coalition force members immediately moved to the building and linked up with the Iraqi police forces. A search of the building revealed two Iraqi police, who were not in uniform, were killed during the exchange."
Security was especially tight in Baghdad's Shi'ite neighborhoods. In Baghdad's Sadr City, home to Iranian-sponsored Shi'ite militias, an army officer fired opened fire toward several people who were chanting slogans at a polling station. One person was killed and another was injured.
Al Qaida and pro-Saddam Hussein forces also sought to disrupt the elections. In Tikrit, the home of Saddam's tribe, insurgents fired three mortar shells toward a polling station.
A bomb was also found near a polling station in Tikrit. There were no reports of casualties in the Sunni city.
Officials said Iraqi troops maintained exclusive authority around polling stations. They said U.S. forces provided perimeter security, but were not allowed to patrol near voting centers.
"There were no major breaches in a massive security plan," Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed Al Askari said. "I consider it a great success, like a wedding."
In Baghdad, the Iraq Air Force employed the King Air 350 intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft to provide real-time surveillance and full-motion video of troubled areas of the capital. Officials said the King Air 350, a twin-engine turboprop with surveillance capabilities similar to the U.S.-origin Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, relayed images to the Iraqi National Operations Center. The air force contains five such aircraft.
"We envision the Iraqi air force using this system to support military or police operations centers, or, for example, with the Iraqi navy, supporting maritime security operations and oil platform defense in the northern Arabian Gulf," U.S. Navy Cmdr. Chuck Pratt, an intelligence adviser to the Iraqi military, said. "We also need to network the ground stations so information can be viewed where it is needed."