The BBC now reports that turnout for the Iraqi elections has been surprisingly high, except in the Sunni cities that once hosted Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorist network:

Voting officially started at 0700 local time (0400 GMT), though some polling stations opened even earlier.

The BBC's Ben Brown in Basra says electoral officials have been surprised by the high turnout there, and some polling stations had to open early.

But correspondents in central Sunni cities, such as Falluja, Samarra and Ramadi, have seen virtually no voting activity.

The BBC never even mentions that these three cities had to be cleared of terrorists with major military actions in the past three months, and that they have always been considered too sympathetic to Zarqawi to cooperate with the elections. We know, however, that Baghdad has seen significant turnout despite a number of suicide bombers on the west side of town. Fox News reports at 2:01 CT (11 am Baghdad) that they have counted seven or eight attacks; significant, but far below what was expected.

Right now, the turnout in other areas appears to be spectacular. The residents of the three towns mentioned by the BBC will wind up marginalizing themselves. They stuck with the wrong horse today.

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» Iraq Makes History, Elections Begin from bLogicus
Iraqis voted Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying threats of violence and an initial round of attacks from insurgents determined to sabotage the balloting. As he cast his vote, President Ghazi al-Yawer called it Iraq... [Read More]

Tracked on January 30, 2005 3:45 AM

» Iraq Makes History, Elections Begin from bLogicus
Iraqis voted Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying threats of violence and an initial round of attacks from insurgents determined to sabotage the balloting. As he cast his vote, President Ghazi al-Yawer called it Iraq... [Read More]

Tracked on January 30, 2005 3:45 AM

» Iraqis Vote -- On Their Future from DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS
The AP "leads with what bleeds." They wait 31 paragraphs to tell you it's the Sunni Triangle. 72% turnout sounds pretty much like a successful election to me. We only had [61%] in 2004. [Read More]

Tracked on January 30, 2005 7:58 AM

» Iraqi voting from The Principled Objection
Captain Ed at the Captain's Quarters picks up the Beeb much earlier in the morning than I'm willing to check the news: it notes high voter turnout in all cities except for the three that had had the worst and most recent terrorist attacks in the last... [Read More]

Tracked on January 30, 2005 8:18 AM