Voting in Iraq -- UPDATE

Reports from Iraqis:

Aunt Najma in Mosul details her family's experience on voting day. The confusion is about what you would expect. An interesting point -- her mother voted twice, once for herself and once for her husband who waited outside the polling place. She also notes how erroneous BBC reporting was.

Read her here.

Sooni posts pictures here.

What is interesting here is how often people would take their children along and turn voting into a family outing. Democracy seems to be family friendly.

Iraq the Model continues his/their commentary. He includes a link to local video of post-voting celebrations [you know, what Christine Amanpour interpreted to be an armed uprising]. Check him out here.

Iraqpundit and his commenters are highly critical of Juan Cole and PBS' excessively negative analysis of the vote. He notes that "expert" commentators often fail to consider the attitudes and interests of ordinary people, preferring instead to regurgitate what they hear from other "experts." Read it here.

Hammorabi is enthused by the idea that the Iraqi people are taking yet another step toward a democratic future. He expects that the constitution will be easily approved. CNN and PBS think otherwise [but of course they would]. Read him here.

There seems to be a common theme emerging -- the perceptions of participants and those of the MSM and academic "experts" diverges considerably.

But, then you already knew that.