Well Iraq held the first post Saddam election on Sunday. Things went pretty well. Hopefully this mess is getting straightened out and we are heading in the right direction now. Only time will tell.

Iraqi Leader Says Thousands Couldn't Vote

"Iraq's interim president said Tuesday that tens of thousands of people may have been unable to vote in the country's historic weekend election because some polling places - including those in Sunni Arab areas - ran out of ballots.
....
The allegation that many voters were turned away could further alienate minority Sunnis, who already are complaining they have been left out of the political process.

'Tens of thousands were unable to cast their votes because of the lack of ballots in Basra, Baghdad and Najaf,' [President Ghazi] al-Yawer, himself a Sunni Arab, said at a news conference. Najaf is a mostly Shiite city but Basra and Baghdad have substantial Sunni populations."

The interim president happens to be Sunni Arab. Which I did not know. I hope this isn't planting a seed to further problems with the Sunni minority.

Well hopefully we will know the results soon, and see if this is going to work.

Now I would like to applaud the administration for putting forward a plan to increase the death benefits paid to the families of military personnel who are killed in action in Afghanistan and Iraq from some $12,000 to $100,000 and to pay for life insurance up to $150,000 additionally.

Now having said that I do agree with others that we should extend this to include any military personnel killed in any location, not just those two battlefields.

Military Death Benefit Called Too Narrow

"Lawmakers and military officials said Tuesday that President Bush's proposal to boost government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones was a good start but too narrow."

Well anyways that is my two cents for the night. Please come back to hear more from this liberal tomorrow.