Iraq: Voting Begins Amidst Deadly Attacks

As thousands of soldiers, police officers, and security officials went to polls today for early voting, three separate attacks killed at least twelve people at voting stations in Baghdad. This comes after a larger attack on Wednesday that killed nearly three dozen. Still, despite the fear in some circles that the recent uptick in violence might delay the U.S. withdrawal, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell assured reporters that the president’s timeline remains unchanged, saying that “it would take an extraordinarily dire turn of events for [a delay] to be something we were to consider.”

However, the first day of voting was marred by more than just violence; thousands of citizens complained that their names were missing from the registration rolls, prompting the government to announce that anyone unable to find his or her name would be granted a provisional ballot.

Over at the National, Nir Rosen addresses “foreign analysts and reporters” who fear a civil war 2.0 by reiterating his earlier pronouncement that Iraq’s emerging stability will, in his opinion, preclude a return to sectarian violence. But Gregg Carlstrom counters, saying that there is a legitimate concern that “the de-Ba’athification crisis is an indicator of unresolved tensions — and that those tensions, coupled with Iraq’s crushing poverty and severe refugee crisis and lackluster government performance (all of which Rosen chronicles quite well), will lead to unpredictable long-term consequences.”

Elsewhere, the Arab Reform Bulletin has posted two new articles, both of which focus on Iraq and various post-election concerns. Salem Mashkour, an Iraqi journalist and candidate on the ballot, delineates the proliferation of viable political “blocs” since the 2005 contest, saying that he would not be surprised to see a cross-sectarian coalition emerge from the March 7 poll. The Bulletin‘s other piece, written by professor Abbas Kadhim of the Naval Postgraduate School, chronicles the social, economic, and political consequences of Iraq’s pervasive corruption.