This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HILLAH 000377 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO IZ
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR, SENATORS PRAISE IRAQI VOTERS, ELECTION PROCESS 
AT BABIL PROVINCE POLLING STATION 
 
REF: HILLAH 0341 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Senators 
Joseph Biden, Lindsay Graham, Saxby Chambliss and Maria Cantwell 
praised the Iraqi people for their participation in the national 
election before a group of Western and Iraqi reporters outside a 
downtown Al-Hillah polling station December 15. "I want to 
congratulate the Iraqi people on a good day, a great day," 
Ambassador Khalilzad declared. The Ambassador assured the Iraqis 
that the U.S. would stay with them until the Iraqis were able to 
stand on their own feet. Senator Biden added that he was looking 
forward to the formation of an Iraqi government and the 
development of the Iraqi Constitution. End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Ambassador Khalilzad and the Senators were greeted by 
Al-Hillah Mayor Imad Lefta Al-Bayati and Babil Province Police 
Chief General Qais Hamza Aboud Mahmori outside the Al-Waili High 
School, in downtown Al-Hillah, one of 268 provincial polling 
centers. Ambassador Khalilzad commented on the refuse in the 
streets and suggested to the Mayor that USG and the local 
government explore ways to assist the city and improve the 
situation. The delegation joined sporadic groups of young Iraqi 
men and families, many carrying small children, walking towards 
the front gate of the school courtyard. Independent Electoral 
Commission of Iraq (IECI) officials and the male and female 
security screeners on duty welcomed the Ambassador and his party 
warmly. 
 
¶3. (U) After passing another security screen and entering the 
high school, the Ambassador and the Senators turned down a 
narrow hallway where four classrooms had been converted into 
polling stations. Ambassador Khalilzad congratulated a handful 
of voters in the first room as Mayor Lefta explained the voting 
process, a set of successive steps in which the voter checks his 
or her name, receives a ballot, marks the ballot and folds it 
behind a screen, dips a finger in indelible purple ink, and 
deposits the ballot in a large plastic box. 
 
¶4. (U) Election observers from the Badr Organization, the Iraqi 
National Accord (INA), the Iraqi Election Information Network 
(EIN) and another local non-governmental organization were in 
the room, and Ambassador Khalilzad asked them if they could 
challenge voters. The observers replied that they could. The 
Ambassador and the Senators then dipped their own fingers in the 
ink, held them up and told the voters, IECI staff, and Western 
and Iraqi press crowded into the room how proud they were to 
witness the voting process. Iraqis continued to walk into the 
other voting rooms as the Ambassador and the Senators stood 
inside the first polling station in the hallway. 
 
¶5. (U) Outside the school, the Ambassador and Senators took 
questions from reporters from outlets that included the Los 
Angeles Times, the Sunday Telegraph, Reuters, and the Iraqi news 
outlets Al-Mada newspaper, Al-Fayhaa newspaper, Ishtar 
newspaper, Al-Diyar TV, Al-Watan newspaper, and Al-Sabah 
newspaper.  "I want to congratulate the Iraqi people on a good 
day, a great day," Ambassador Khalilzad told the assembled 
press. "I want to assure them that we will be with them until 
they can stand on their own feet." 
 
¶6. (U) "The organization is impressive. The turnout is 
impressive," Senator Biden offered. "We look forward to getting 
the results counted, and watching the Iraqis form a government." 
Senators Graham and Cantwell praised the Iraqi people for their 
bravery, and Senator Chambliss declared, "We are very happy to 
be here today to get the chance to observe history being made. 
Iraq is very justly and rightly a proud country today, and we're 
happy to be here." 
 
¶7. (U) Asked about Sunni turnout and the prospects for 
disaffected Sunnis engaging in the political process, Ambassador 
Khalilzad related, "my hope is that the role of bullets will 
decline, and the role of politics, of compromise, of political 
competition will increase. This is a first step, an important 
step. Democracy is on the march." Senator Chambliss proclaimed 
the day, "a great victory for the Iraqi people." 
 
¶8. (U) "We saw today that the Iraqi people want to vote. They 
want to choose their leaders," Senator Biden observed. Then, 
referring to the process of choosing a government and finalizing 
those constitutional articles not finalized in the initial 
drafting process, Senator Biden added, "now the hard part of 
democracy comes." Senator Graham offered some advice to the 
Iraqi reporters present. Americans took 11 years to arrive at 
their Constitution, Senator Graham observed. He explained that 
it took over 100 years for women to be granted the right to 
vote. "Learn from our mistakes," the Senator suggested. 
FONTENEAU