The Elections

As captioned in the New York Times: Humvees of the Iraqi Army on Friday patrolled the streets of central Basra ahead of Saturday's vote. Security in Iraq has improved considerably, but the campaign has not been without violence. Three Sunni candidates were assassinated Thursday -- one in Mosul, one in Diyala and one in Baghdad.
Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Quietly hopeful… this in the WaPo about the Iraqi provincial elections:

BAGHDAD, Jan. 31 -- Iraqis streamed passed police cordons and barbed wire as they went to the polls on Saturday to vote in their first elections in four years, widely seen as a test of Iraq's stability as the U.S. role in Iraq diminishes.

The all-important provincial elections are viewed as a key indicator of whether the nation can build upon fragile security gains and address imbalances in power that still plague many areas. More than 14,000 candidates are running for 440 seats to lead councils that are the equivalent of state legislatures in the United States.

Aljazeera has a short fact-file on the elections and it ain’t too shabby. So does the New York Times, in addition to their Iraq blog, which has on-the-scene narrative, video, and photos. There’s a whole helluva lot to choose from on the ‘net regarding the elections… Google News listed 2,066 articles on the subject (many of them duplicates) at 0830 hours MST.