Iraqis hopeful despite threat of bloodshed
'Good Morning, Orange City' radio airs a marketplace of ideas
By Arwa Damon
CNN
 |  U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baquba are on high alert for attacks after a suicide bombing on Thursday. |
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|  VIDEO |
 How Iraqis will vote when they head to the polls on Sunday.
 CNN's Brent Sadler on efforts to secure the Iraq-Syria border.
 A bomb shattered the peace outside a reconciliation meeting of Iraqi and U.S. officials and Sunni leaders in Baquba.
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BAQUBA, Iraq (CNN) -- "Welcome all listeners, welcome to a new episode of 'Good Morning, Orange City.' Welcome, we are waiting for your calls, our numbers are 530898 and 530 ..." Before radio talk show host Rafed Mahmud can finish his sentence, the phone at Diyala TV and Radio is ringing.
The show, called "Good Morning, Orange City" because of the region's famous citrus and palm groves, is quite the buzz in Diyala province, which is northeast of Baghdad, and has created a stir even in the capital, Mahmud said.
Iraqis can call in and lodge complaints, discuss daily issues, or merely express themselves.
"When the show first launched, it was very bizarre for citizens and for the government officials. This freedom has never been seen. As each episode went by I noticed that citizens were opening up and getting their issues off their chest," Mahmud said.
"The government officials were not expecting the citizens to be this open and really hold them [the officials] accountable. The government officials themselves often phone back to react to the complaints. We have really seen results."
The results came at a high price for the station established in September 2003.
In March of last year, gunmen attacked a bus carrying employees of the station, killing three employees and wounding another eight. About a week ago, Mahmud's 4-month-old daughter was killed in a car crash.
Mahmud was moving his family from Baquba after receiving death threats, when he noticed a vehicle tailing him. While trying to outmaneuver the vehicle, his car flipped, killing his daughter and injuring his wife and 6-year-old son.
Friday's guest at the station was Amer Latif, provincial director of the Independent Electoral Commission.
Amid what Mahmud said are the usual complaints about power outages, gas shortages, allegations of corruption by the local and national governments, and the security situation, Friday's callers also addressed the elections.
A caller from Moqtadiye said angrily, "All the people are all asking -- Who is going to guarantee our security when we are going to the polls?"
Amer said the electoral commission has arranged with Iraqi security forces and the coalition forces to ensure voter security.
"On the day of elections, all will be secure and Iraqis will be able to vote," he said.
Another caller complained about the black market for benzene, a common fuel. He said every station has different prices and that he thinks something fishy is going on.
Regarding the elections, he asked, "Up till now we still don't know how to vote or who is on the lists. How will we get to the polls? Can we go or will they come and get us?"
Amer explained the voting process and said there will be TV and radio broadcasts, leaflet distribution, and banners that will direct voters to the polls.
Mahmud said most of his callers have two concerns about elections.
"They are worried about security. And they also ask how can they vote when they don't even have basic services," he said.
Optimism under pressure
Although he compares the security in Diyala province with that in Falluja and Ramadi, Mahmud said that he believes that most of the province will go to the polls come election day, despite the insurgent campaign to deter them.
"There is insurgent propaganda being put out, and this is where the role of the citizen comes in and their love for Iraq," he said.
"I think that this is what is going to push the Iraqi to the vote. There are even some old women who say, 'We will go vote, even if we die in the voting stations.' This sentiment is what will allow us to have successful elections."
There are 170 polling sites in Diyala province, 40 of which are in Baquba. Many have been attacked despite efforts to keep the locations secret, but military officials in Baquba say there has been no sustained effort to take over the sites. Most of the attacks have consisted of a few bursts of small arms fire or a mortar round.
"They [the insurgents] won't be able to overrun our polling sites. The issue is to make sure that the people are not so intimidated to stay home," said Col. Dana Pittard, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division.
"That's a tough one. All it takes is a guy shooting a couple rounds and people may decide to stay home."
Security out in force
The Iraqi police are securing most of the sites, with Iraqi army units and coalition forces a radio call away.
Brig. Gen. Tahsin Tawfia Jasim, director of the Joint Coordination Center, said 1,590 policemen and 509 police officers are securing polling sites throughout the province.
At one site, a primary school in central Baquba, Iraqi police said they came under machine gun fire the previous night but they repelled the attackers.
"There have been several attacks in this neighborhood. The police station down the road from here has been taken over several times by insurgents," said Capt. John Bushman.
But officials say that security has improved dramatically since the summer, when the attacks were more intense and sophisticated.
On the gate to the school is a "Wanted" poster, hung by insurgents, with the faces and names of local leaders wanted by the insurgency. Three of the names are marked with red crosses -- they have been killed.
At a rundown school with broken windows and piled-up desks in northwest Baquba that is slated to be a polling site, a policeman said, "They shot at us from over there; a mortar round, but it did not detonate. They can't scare us."
Residents across the street from the school complained the Iraqi police fired indiscriminately when they were attacked.
"We are living in danger here. They [the insurgents] are always trying to hit them [the polling sites]," Auday Sagir said. He said he will vote and is trying to choose between two lists.
About 100 meters (110 yards) down the road "Allawi is the Sharon of Iraq" is spray painted on the wall.
Posters for the various candidates and lists are hung on walls, mainly close to police stations, government buildings and the blast walls at some checkpoints -- locations where the insurgents cannot easily tear them down.
There is little public campaigning. Most is done behind closed doors, or through the TV and radio stations.
Exactly how many voters will be at the polls in Diyala is difficult to determine, as is who is really in charge of the city.
Bombing fails to deter 'Peace Day'
On Thursday, a suicide car bomb detonated at a traffic intersection about 100 meters away from the governor's compound, killing one police officer and wounding four others.
Dozens were gathered at the governor's compound -- former insurgents, local and tribal leaders, pro-Baathist members of the community and coalition officials -- invited to what was called "Peace Day," an opportunity for reconciliation talks ahead of the elections.
The blast shook the compound and blew out the glass of the foyer. As the U.S. military and the press rushed outside, the Iraqis in the auditorium sat unfazed, saying, "It's nothing."
A former Baath Party member who would not disclose his name said, "It's a part of our life now."
He came to the meeting with 20 of his fellow citizens from Khalis to complain about recent raids in the area. He said the Iraqi police accused him of terrorism.
He said they all signed an agreement at Peace Day that stated they are not acting against coalition or Iraqi forces.
Sunnis urged to vote
He said he believes he is being singled out because he was a former Baath Party member. He said he would vote Sunday "to keep the Shiite list from coming to power." He said he would be voting for Ayad Allawi, the interim prime minister, or Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, the interim president.
"I ask of all of the people of Diyala to give 10 or 15 minutes to go to the polls, even if you don't vote," said Diyala Gov. Abdullah al-Jouburi, a candidate in the provincial elections, in his closing statement to the crowd.
"Just to go and at least see with your own eyes what it is like to vote, so that next year at least you will be able to say I know about elections."
U.S. military officials said there were eight assassinations at the provincial level in Diyala over the past three months, all of them Shiites.
Diyala's population is 40 percent Sunni, 35 percent Shiite, 25 percent Kurdish, and 5 percent Turkmen and others.
Voting OK in provincial poll
Sunni parties, which have boycotted the elections on the national level, will participate in the provincial elections in Diyala after Sunni religious leaders in Baghdad issued a fatwa, or religious decree, allowing them to do so.
Hafez Abdul Aziz Juma, a candidate for the Iraqi Islamic Party, said that although the party was not fully convinced of the elections' merit, members realized the benefits of participating in Diyala.
"It's in the benefit of the Islamic Party and the benefit of the Sunni parties to participate to create a balance. It's a beginning. The journey of 1,000 days starts with a single step," he said.
Senior U.S. military and Iraqi security officials met at the Joint Coordination Center to discuss election security.
Not only do the armed forces have to secure the province for elections, they also have to ensure the citizens security after they have voted. Voters will have their fingers marked with ink that will last a few days, making it easy for the insurgents to set them apart.
"Our worst nightmare would be to have voters fingers chopped off," one U.S. officer said.
'Iraq is like a sick child'
Pittard said the military feels confident about security come election day and the progress that has been made in the province on all levels.
"We are inspired every day by the people here in Diyala," he said.
Ali Ismail Fatah, director of criminal investigations Diyala, said: "Iraq is like a sick child. If a child starts to get ill and is given a cure right away, then he can get better. But if the medicine is given too late, it won't work in the same way. Now the terrorists know how we operate, they know our methods. Bad blood has started to run."
Fatah said he believes elections should have been held sooner.
He will not vote on election day. He said he does not believe in any of the candidates, but he does believe that elections are at least a step toward change.
