A LESSON IN VOTER TURNOUTS

Note to advocates of large voter turnouts: Look at Iraq.

Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader the whole world loves to hate, continues to try to define legitimacy for himself in bizarre ways. The latest is the national referendum on his leadership.

Look at the results: A full 99.5 percent of the eligible voters went to the polls. But that's not all. Of those who voted, all but 0.04 percent voted for Saddam. Of course, it is worth mentioning that his was the only name on the ballot.

What are the lessons? For one thing, no opposition helps in the overall vote margin for the victor. Also, the folks who didn't show up at the polls are likely to face firing squads on Monday. And those who voted but not for Saddam can anticipate the same fate on Tuesday.

So much for free and open elections. Who is Saddam trying to kid? This is just another example of his warped notion that whatever he says will be believed by the rest of the world. He can fool his own people -- or scare them into outright submission -- but he is only making more of a laughingstock of himself everywhere else.