Peace Like A River


It was a wide river, mistakable for a lake or even an ocean unless you'd been wading and knew its current. Somehow I'd crossed it... Now I saw the stream regrouped below, flowing on through what might've been vineyards, pastures, orhards... It flowed between and alongside the rivers of people; from here it was no more than a silver wire winding toward the city. - Leif Enger, Peace Like A River

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Did the operations succeed?

As written about here a time or two, there have been a multitude of operations in Iraq the past couple three months leading up to today. Steel Curtain, Iron Hammer, the many operations in and around Ramadi and Fallujah, a host of operations in Baghdad, and operations across northern Iraq.

Part of their intent was to disrupt terrorist operations and make today, election day, as violence-free as possible so the Iraqi people could go vote.

Were they successful?

This is W. Thomas Smith (who can be found here) at the Corner:

Just received from the 2nd Marine Division:

In Ramadi, where only several thousand citizens took part in the October referendum, tens of thousands of voters lined the streets to vote today. Residents were seen dancing, singing, and waving the Iraqi flag. It is still too early to tell what percentage of voters in the city actually voted, but the numbers are expected to be much higher than they were during the Referendum.

In Fallujah, where an estimated 90 percent of voters participated in October’s referendum, voter turnout today was similarly high. Elsewhere in the province, in cities like Husaybah, Karabilah and Ubaydi, voter turnout was steady throughout the day. Until a few weeks ago, this area near the Syrian border was largely under the influence of al Qaeda led insurgents, but has since been cleared in recent operations by U.S. and Iraqi forces.


Iraq the Model has extensive coverage of today's voting:

The number of voting officials, independent observers and political bodies’ representatives is higher than what we saw in January. From what we saw, people feel safer walking to the voting centers this time; many of them were carrying Iraqi flags.


Bill Roggio, who is in Iraq right now, adds this:

Turnout is said to be high across the river in the sister city of Haqlaniyah. No reports are available from Haditha at this time.

Barwana, once part of Zarqawi self declared “Islamic Republic of Iraq”, is now the scene of al-Qaeda’s greatest nightmare: Muslims exercising their constitutional right to chose their destiny.


I'd say mission accomplished.

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