Iraq to Vote Shadowed by Threat of Bloodbath

• At Least 20 Iraqis Killed in Election Attacks [more]
  

 Insurgents threatened a bloodbath on Sunday when Iraqis go to the polls in an election intended to unite the country and quell violence but which could instead foment sectarian strife. Iraq was under security lockdown for Iraq's first multi-party elections in nearly half a century. Borders were sealed, airports closed and only official vehicles allowed on the streets after heavy bloodshed on the eve of voting, including a bold rocket strike that killed two Americans at the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad's Green Zone. Insurgents also killed 17 Iraqis and an American soldier on Saturday. A suicide bomber struck a U.S.-Iraqi security center in the town of Khanaqin, northeast of the Iraqi capital. The U.S. military said three Iraqi soldiers and five civilians were killed in that incident. The embassy attack deepened fears of an insurgent blitz on election day and demonstrated their ability to strike at the heart of the interim government and American power in their vast fortified complex on the west bank of the river Tigris. It could also worsen fears of Iraq's 14.2 million registered voters about casting ballots in the country's first election since Saddam Hussein was toppled in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003. [more]

• Iraqi forces unable to stop election day violence [more] and [more]
• In Armored Vehicles, U.S. Troops Tell Iraqis to Vote [more] and [more]
• "You can't have free and fair elections under occupation. They simply don't mean anything," "This election is being forced by the Americans so they can say to the world, 'Look, we've brought democracy to Iraq. We're brought freedom to the Iraqi people.' It's all a sham." [more]