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While historic elections
are underway in Iraq that will choose a new Iraqi
parliament, a group of North Texas Kurds said
important voting is also going on in the United
States.
Voting started at hospitals, military camps and
prisons Sunday, and in the United States Iraqi
expatriates will vote in Nashville and four other
cities, which include Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles
and Washington, D.C.
In January, Zewar Al-Missouri traveled 12 hours from
North Texas to cast his vote in Iraq's first free
election, and on Tuesday he will return to
Nashville, Tennessee to vote again.
"We're voting not just for a parliament," said
Al-Missouri, Iraqi expatriate. "We're voting to
support the troops [and] support the freedom of
Iraq."
The group said the elections are important for Iraqi
expatriates.
Despite polls that indicate a majority of Americans
feel the war in Iraq was a mistake, they remain
strong supporters.
Al-Missouri fled Iraq under Saddam Hussein's rule,
and now he and some fellow North Texan Kurds said
they are all aware of the growing discontent with
the way the country was led into war.
However, the group said they believe the war and the
troops have brought a lot of good to their old
homeland.
"The war did have a cause, the liberation of the
Iraqi people," Al-Missouri said.
The group also said they disagree with those who
call for American troops to leave Iraq.
"Any American pullout [or] early withdrawal from
Iraq will lead to civil war," said Issa Shini, Iraqi
expatriate.
Ayad Barzani recently returned from Iraq and said he
personally saw the progress.
"A lot of people in the United States [want] to
bring soldiers back home," Barzani said. "To me,
they should send more troops to Iraq to make Iraq
stronger."
"I see a lot of improvement [and] a lot of freedom,"
he said. "I see the people happier."
They argued the progress in Iraq is overshadowed by
the daily coverage of insurgent attacks.
"As all of us know, the media broadcasts only the
bad things about the Iraq," Shini said. "They never
talk about the good things."
While most Americans have lost faith in the
president's handling of the war, the group of North
Texas men said they wholeheartedly support Bush to
stay the course in Iraq.
"President Bush is a hero," Barzani said. "As a
Kurd, as an Iraqi [and] as an American citizen, he
will always have my vote."
The new 275 member assembly voted in during the new
elections will serve for four years. Once in place,
it will choose Iraq's new government.
However, the group of North Texas Iraqi expatriates
said there will only be victory in Iraq when a
government is formed and Iraqi national forces can
secure it without American troops.
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