[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 26, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S509-S510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             IRAQ ELECTIONS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I have a few remarks to make on the Iraq 
elections. I will proceed in sharing a few experiences that I had 
recently, but really focus on what will occur on Sunday, January 30, 
and that is that millions of Iraqis will, for the first time in 
decades, vote in free elections.
  I truthfully believe we will see the power of elections speak loudly 
this Sunday. It is going to be with a lot of courage and a lot of 
determination that those who vote will travel to over 5,000 polling 
stations across the country. They will be casting their ballot for 275 
national assembly positions that will, in turn, draft a new 
constitution.
  It is a historic event for the people of Iraq. It is, in the words of 
historian Fouad Ajami, ``a breakthrough in the terrible history of this 
tormented land.''
  Doomsayers and pessimists point to the terrorist attacks on the Iraqi 
citizenry as proof that Iraqis are not ready for self-governance. They 
say: Postpone the elections. They say: Iraqis have no history of 
liberty. In other words, withhold freedom from the innocent and hand 
victory to the guilty. Blame the victim, reward the criminal. It is a 
cruel logic and one that, thankfully, the Iraqis have flat out 
rejected.
  Indeed, numerous candidates all over the country have entered the 
elections despite the insurgents' and the terrorists' threats and 
attempts at intimidation. Iraqi voter turnout on Sunday will be higher 
than in many Western democracies.
  Listen to the words of Iraqis themselves. Baghdad resident Ali Danif 
tells an American paper:

       Going to the polling stations is a victory for the Iraqi 
     people.

  Says his friend Kadhim Hassan:

       Without elections, there will be tyranny. It's time for us 
     to come into the light.

  On January 30, Iraqis will take those first momentous steps. No one 
presumes the elections will be perfect, including the Iraqi people 
themselves. The terrorists will continue their attempts to derail the 
process between now and then. Unfortunately, the attacks, I believe, 
are likely to increase during this period and quite possibly for some 
time afterward. But the American people will stand with the Iraqi 
people for democracy and for freedom.
  I was in Iraq 2 weeks ago with a Senate delegation, and based on our 
experiences in talking with the Iraqi people, in talking with the 
leadership, and

[[Page S510]]

attending a town meeting, I can say with confidence that despite the 
insurgents' bombs and threats, democracy is on the way.
  During our time in Iraq, my Senate colleagues and I were in a meeting 
with Prime Minister Allawi. In the middle of that meeting, he asked if 
we would be willing to go around the block or a few hundred yards away 
at a townhall meeting that he was conducting. We said yes. It was 
spontaneous, and we did not know what to expect.
  We went with him in the middle of our meeting, and it was a meeting 
he had been holding over the course of the day. We walked into a room 
about the size of this Chamber, and it was packed. It was packed with 
more than 150 Sunni sheiks who were from the Sunni triangle area, the 
area where most of the terrorist activity has been occurring.
  We walked into the room, and it was embroiled in activity. It was 
embroiled in debate. People were scrambling. Sheiks were scrambling for 
the microphone so they could express themselves. There was controversy, 
disagreement. It was orderly in the sense that one person talked at a 
time. This was really democracy at its best. It was spontaneous, not 
planned by us. The Prime Minister, in meeting with the sheiks, spent 
most of the day listening very patiently.
  The presentations were passionate, and for me it captured the real 
contrast on that day when we saw free speech and full expression. Some 
were saying postpone the elections; others we saying, no, don't 
postpone the elections. This is the first step toward democracy. Others 
said America has done things perfectly, knowing we were in the room, 
and others said we should have done this or done that.
  The point is, everybody was expressing themselves, and the Prime 
Minister was sitting before them listening patiently, taking the 
opportunity to comment. It was a striking contrast to the decades under 
Saddam where disagreement could lead, and frequently did lead, to 
torture and, in many cases, as we know, ultimately death.
  So progress is being made. The will of the Iraqi people is, for the 
first time in decades, being heard. These elections will give an 
element of legitimacy of expression of the Iraqi people that heretofore 
has not been there to the degree that it should be and that it will be 
in the future. It is through the ballot box, the power of that ballot 
box that the Iraqis will begin this journey.
  I need to comment again very briefly on a Tennessee angle to these 
elections because the Tennessee population of Iraqis is quite high and, 
therefore, Nashville, TN, has been chosen as one of the polling sites 
so that Iraqis, mainly a Kurdish community that has come to the United 
States, can express themselves in this election.

  It was in 1977 that a professor named Franklin Jones agreed to 
sponsor the first Kurdish family in Nashville, almost 30 years ago. Now 
Nashville boasts the largest Kurdish community in the United States of 
America. Referred to by some as ``Little Kurdistan,'' there are 5,000 
to 8,000 Kurdish families living in Nashville, and on Sunday, 3,700 
Iraqi Americans living in the Nashville region will go out to our 
Tennessee State fairgrounds where they will cast their vote. It is an 
out-of-country voting site that has been established. They will be 
participating in creating this new and free Iraqi government.
  The story of Nashville's Kurdish community is a special one. After 
that first Kurdish family arrived in 1977, more and more Kurds came to 
Nashville. A number of our community and church organizations focused 
on the Kurds' plight and helped refugees adjust, settle in, and be 
assimilated into our wonderful city, Nashville.
  During the 1980s, a small Kurdish community began to develop. You ask 
why. A lot of it is serendipity, but one of the answers you get is the 
climate in Nashville reminded them of the climate back home.
  In 1991, during Desert Storm, a large contingent of Kurds fled to the 
United States, and many of them joined their brethren in Tennessee. Job 
opportunities were high, cost of living was low, and Nashville's 
unparalleled hospitality welcomed them and made them feel safe.
  On Sunday, when millions of Iraqis go to the polls to vote for the 
first time in Iraq, they will be joined by their compatriots in 
Nashville. And among them, as an aside, will be Samir, the Iraqi-
American translator who found Saddam Hussein down in his spider hole.
  I am proud that early on the people of Tennessee welcomed Iraqis into 
their homes, into their communities, and gave them shelter and hope. I 
am honored the city of Nashville and the State of Tennessee will 
provide Iraqis across the region with the opportunity to express 
themselves on January 30.
  It is a historic day for them and a historic day for the coalition 
that has invested so much in the Iraqi people, and a historic day for 
democracy. We will see young men and women going to the polls 
expressing themselves. People have been waiting a long time for this 
day.
  In closing, we were all abuzz last week with the activities 
surrounding the 55th inaugural. It was a wonderful event for those of 
us who participated here in the Capitol and for those who watched it 
across America--the glowing lights, the banners. To have that peaceful 
transfer of the election process be realized is clearly remarkable for 
us all. But at its core, the inauguration was not for a party and not 
for a particular person. It was a celebration of the blessing of 
democracy and the freedoms we enjoy, freedoms I am confident one day 
will be ever much as common in Iraq as it is in the United States.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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