[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Page 28496]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         IRAQI VOTE FOR FREEDOM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today marks a proud and momentous day in 
Iraq's history. Today, on December 15, 2005, 15 million registered 
voters will go to the polls to choose their first permanently elected 
government in modern Iraqi history. Along with them, Iraqis from all 
around the world will cast their votes for freedom, for Iraq's future--
including Iraqi Kurds in my home town of Nashville, Tennessee.
  As it so happens, Nashville is home to the largest Kurdish population 
in the United States of approximately 8,000 Iraqi expats. This past 
January, over 3,000 of our Kurdish neighbors voted in the historic 
January 30 elections which put Iraq on the road to independent, 
democratic self-rule. Tennessee election organizers predict that the 
turnout for today's vote will be double that number.
  Iraqis from all around the region are converging on Nashville to cast 
their votes in solidarity with their brothers and sisters of their 
native land.
  Susan Dakak, whose family moved from Baghdad to Tennessee 27 years 
ago, tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press, ``This is a dream come 
true. I never thought in my life that Iraq would get to where it is 
politically.''
  Susan and her husband, Janan, plan to travel from Knoxville to 
Nashville, and they plan to bring their 9-year-old son with them to 
witness the personal and historic moment of casting their ballots as 
free citizens. And as Susan understands, her vote is not just for her 
birth country, but for her adopted country, as well.
  Susan and Janan's votes, along with the millions of Iraqis voting 
today, are critical to helping defeat the terrorists and vanquishing 
their violent aspirations.
  As Susan explains:

       This will be the beginning of the end of all of the 
     violence. The new Iraqi government will know that it will be 
     their responsibility to clear the terrorists out of the 
     country.

  In the short run, today's broad participation will further isolate 
the terrorists and constructively engage Iraqis across ethnic and 
sectarian lines. And in the long run, a peaceful, united, stable and 
secure democracy in the heart of the Middle East will expose the 
brittle and intolerable tyranny of the terrorist enemy. And it is 
precisely this outcome that our terrorist enemies fear.
  Early in the conflict, a letter from Al Zarqawi was intercepted by 
coalition forces. In it, he wrote that a free and prosperous Iraq would 
reject his vision of a medieval, fundamentalist state. He recognized 
that if Iraqis became accustomed to self-determination and self-rule, 
they would refuse to submit to a tyrant and they would reject his 
extreme interpretation of Islam.
  Furthermore, Iraq would become a model for the entire Middle East 
region, driving out extremism and heralding in moderation and peace. Al 
Zarqawi understands the power of freedom. That is why he is bent on its 
destruction. But as this remarkable year of steady progress has proven, 
he cannot and will not succeed. The desire of freedom is too strong and 
its logic is too irreducible.
  Democracy is on the march and today 15 million Iraqis are heading to 
the polls. Once again, they are showing the world their extraordinary 
courage and determination to join the modern, free world.
  America pledges to stand with the Iraqi people in that worthy effort 
as they strive to secure the blessings of liberty.
  As Tahir Hussain, president of the Nashville Kurdish Forum, told a 
Tennessee paper on this week:

       We say that everybody should have a voice in Iraq, and 
     everybody should be equal. And today is the day.

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