Troops Mobilize for Iraqi Balloting (washingtonpost.com): "Citing Iraq's profound insecurity, foreign countries and international organizations mustered only a single accredited observer, and she is expected to remain in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. "

however, the article does attribute this good news: 10,000 civilian iraqi volunteered to stand around polling places and make sure everything's kosher (no pun intended, of course).

while i applaud those who are clearly risking their lives to take part in what is the bedrock of democracy, one can hardly imagine that they are indeed trained properly in the processes of voting. maybe they had a seminar last week and nobody reported on it.