Iraqis across the globe begin registering to vote

IRVINE, Calif. -- Hussan Al Taee woke before the crack of dawn and drove seven hours from Arizona, but he was all smiles Monday after registering to vote in an Iraqi election for the first time.

Al Taee, 37, of Phoenix, was among thousands of Iraqi expatriates who showed up at polling stations in 14 countries from Australia to the United States on Monday to register to vote in their homeland's first independent election in nearly 50 years.

"I get happy and my family's happy because they come for voting. For many years we don't do voting in Iraq. Saddam Hussein, he took all the voting," said Al Taee, a Shiite Muslim who said he fled Iraq 10 years ago and now owns a smoke shop in Phoenix.

He arrived with his wife, 1-year-old son and cousin to add his name to the list of some 35,000 Iraqi immigrants expected to register at the polling station set up at a decommissioned Marine base in Southern California.

Cities in four other states held registration for the Jan. 30 election, including Michigan, Tennessee, Maryland and Illinois. About 240,000 Iraqis are eligible to vote in the United States, according to Roger Bryant of the International Center for Migration, which is in charge of the overseas voting for the Iraqi government.

Eligible voters can be American citizens, but must be 18 or older, have been born in Iraq, hold citizenship or prove that their father was Iraqi.

Preparations for the election around the world mirrored those in Iraq itself, where the top U.S. general there predicted violence during the national election but pledged Monday to do "everything in our power" to ensure safety of voters.

The U.S. polling stations were monitored by armed guards and metal detectors. In Nashville, those seeking to register could not go directly to the two election sites, but had to gather at a hastily arranged location to board a bus.

Sadah Badel, 40, ignored Monday's cold temperatures as he and his uncle waited for the bus, eager to begin the voting process.

"Hopefully we can get a democratic country and do the election right," Badel said. "This time is going to be hard because this time is the first time, but hopefully the next couple of years will be much better. Our hope is we have one country just like everyone else here and in Europe -- an independent country, a free country."

At the polling station in Nashville, 3-foot concrete barriers forced vehicles to zig-zag as if entering a checkpoint as an armed officer checked credentials.

"Everybody saw the barriers coming in here. Some people are saying, 'We're not in Fallujah,"' said Ahmed Mossa, a volunteer at the polling place.

Registrants headed to a polling station in Irvine, about 50 miles south of Los Angeles, found themselves searching for an address that didn't exist on the decommissioned Marine base. Most Iraqis interviewed said they had spent hours looking for the polling site.

Eligible Iraqis abroad -- estimated to number 1.2 million -- can vote in Britain, Australia, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United States.

At a London registration center near Wembley Stadium, Saieb Jabbar, who left Baghdad in 1980, registered with his 23-year-old son, Ahmed, who made his only visit to Iraq recently. Both were eager to vote.

"We lived in a dictatorship a long time, and it's the first time in my life, in my 48 years, that I can vote in Iraq," Saieb Jabbar said. "I feel very happy."

In Britain, many of the estimated 150,000 eligible Iraqis were confused about the political process and unsure whom to vote for.

"People keep calling us and asking us, 'Who should we vote for?"' said Jabbar Hasan of the Iraqi Community Association in London. "We say it is up to you. You decide. It is a new experience, even for the political parties."

The seven-day registration period ends Jan. 23. Voting will begin Jan. 28 and continue until the Jan. 30 election in Iraq for an assembly that will draft a constitution and choose a president.

Deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein held referendums, and claimed to have won the last one in 2002 with 100 percent of the vote. So for many Iraqis, the chance to vote in a free election was a thrill.

Some said they had fled repression and violence in Iraq. Some had lost relatives; others had been imprisoned themselves.

Abdul Al-Haddad, 67, drove six hours from Raleigh, N.C., with his family to register at the polling station in New Carrollton, Md. He said he spent 13 years in prison in Iraq after he was falsely accused of being Iranian.

With his son translating from Arabic, Al-Haddad said it was his duty to vote. "I feel I am responsible for my country, to build a free Iraq," he said.

At the polling station in Southgate, Mich., cold weather and security concerns didn't deter Ali Alzaidi, 35, a lab technician from Dayton, Ohio, who drove three hours to register with his Iraqi-born wife and two young sons.

"We wanted to share it with the kids because we consider it the happiest day." he said. "It's a remarkable day for Iraqi people and for Iraq as well."