Sydney Morning Herald [Australia]

01/23/05

In the face of the wave of bombings insurgents [sic] have sworn to carry out in the run-up to Sunday's elections, Iraqi and US authorities are imposing a security clampdown that will snap-freeze the country ... borders will be sealed and curfews ordered; Baghdad International Airport will close and all private transport will be halted for three days. Those brave enough to vote for the candidates, most of whom remain anonymous, will have to walk to one of more than 5000 polling stations, the locations of which are still a guarded secret. As grey surveillance helicopters hung above them in grey skies, Iraqis, already bristling at the closed environment in which they now live, have been forced to account for themselves at checkpoints and to stepped-up street patrols.

http://tinyurl.com/4sgpg


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp