As seen in the World Tribune.

The proposal was made to delay the elections about a month and would not be rescheduled after that. In order for this to go into effect, all sides would need to agree upon it. This may be a good idea, but it really shows a vote of no confidence by the government in its own abilities to conduct its operations.

They are apparently very worried about insurgency attacks:

Officials said Alawi and other senior ministers have assessed that the rise in insurgency attacks in Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle would dissuade most Sunni voters from traveling to the polling stations.

This would not have been a worry if the U.S. had just revved up the number of troops and operations it conducted to get rid of the militarists in the first place. For the election, the Pentagon is sending 1500 more troops and extending the tours of over 10,000. This will bring the total up to 150,000. I don’t think that’s enough though. This is so incredibly important that I just don’t think the U.S. can afford to have underestimated what could happen.

On the other hand, I think the Interim Government is underestimating the determination of its own people.

According to a recently conducted poll by the Al Sabaah newspaper, Sunni Iraqis are very anxious to get their election groove on. Here is the excerpt:

The poll was of 4974 Iraqis living in and around Baghdad.

The following is the translation of the poll and the results:

Will the security problems cause you to?
Not come out and vote the day of elections = 18.3%
Come out and vote the day of elections = 78.3%
No opinion = 3.4%

Do you support the Iraqi Government having its own official newspaper?
Yes = 67.7%
No = 30.9%
Do Not know = 1.4%?

Do you support military action against the terrorists?
Yes = 87.7 %
No = 11.1%
Don????????t Know = 1.2%

Remember, these are people in and around Baghdad, mostly Sunnis, and they are going to vote despite everything. They know their future rests on this, so just imagine how high the turnout is going to be in the less violent areas of the country.

While the lack of security is both a concern of mine and the people of Iraq, I am glad they are taking heed to the great importance of the situation. They are literally putting their lives on the line for the sake of their freedom. It’s that kind of bravery that forms the strong institutions of a democratic society.