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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Iraqi Expats' Turnout Low

Aired January 28, 2005 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
We are in Dearborn and it is the largest Iraqi expatriate community in America. Nearly 100,000 Iraqi Americans live here. For them, today was Election Day. They did not, in fact, come out to vote in droves.

Fewer than one in ten will likely vote in the Iraqi national election but those who do and those who did today have voted with great joy, great satisfaction and, I must tell you, great gratitude for the American soldiers who made their vote possible. That isn't politics. That's fact and that's a large part of the program tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): So the numbers tell but part of the story as Iraqis around the world go to the polls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is the start of a new Iraq.

BROWN: Making it happen is one thing. Making it work is another.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not only an election now but a lesson learned for future elections.

BROWN: We'll talk with one of the organizers of this historic undertaking.

A reminder in Iraq this is no ordinary election, our correspondents in country look at the preparations and the price in Iraqi and American lives.

Back home, the youngest reminder of the cost of war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every time I look at him I see his father and, you know, knowing that, you know, we were supposed to share our life together and have a family and we're not going to have it anymore. It's hard.

BROWN: And bringing Iraq home at the crossroads of the world, still photos that will stop you in your tracks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: All that and more tonight. We begin at the American end of an experiment with much at stake. We also begin with a reminder. Whatever happens this weekend, as Iraqis around the world choose a new National Assembly, it is but a start.

The new assembly will write a new constitution. The government may reevaluate its relationship with the United States. American troops will stay or go or something perhaps in between. The center may hold. Then again it may not. It is but a start.

And the voting today is just the beginning of the beginning. The only problem to speak of so far, as we've said, is turnout but those who came, and some came great distances, came to make a statement.

They want this new Iraqi government, whatever it is to be, to have the stamp of legitimacy. To make it so, the family you just saw voting is doing more than simply showing up and casting their ballots.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): They are part of a new generation of Iraqis here in the states, unsure exactly where they belong but very sure that this election can only make things better.

SAJAD ZALZALA: It's a challenge getting the youth voting out but I think if we target the right areas, we can get the youth involved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, remember this is so important.

NEAM ZALZALA: I channeled my energies regarding the voting into having women be more aware that now is their chance to voice their opinions, voice their thoughts and they can be politically active.

BROWN: They are part of the Zalzala family, mother, father, four children. These expatriates are meeting and helping to organize a get-out-the-vote campaign, important they say because their entire family returned to Iraq last year meeting dozens of aunts and uncles and cousins they had been hearing about all their lives.

MURTATHA ZALZALA: We're kind of torn between the two worlds, you know. You got this life here, which you've been living your whole life and then you have Iraq and it's a lot different. And so, there's this sort of feeling to compel you to stay here and then there's also that feeling, you know, you have to go back because that's where you belong, you know, and that's where all our family is.

NEAM ZALZALA: When I got there, I was like, wow, this is my country. This is the country that I was born in. Even though I wasn't raised in it, I felt a sense of belonging.

BROWN: And a sense of responsibility as well.

S. ZALZALA: A lot of Iraqis feel like they're misplaced and a lot of them, the majority of them feel like that Iraq is their home and they belong there. I felt it was my duty to make sure other people knew about the election. BROWN: The new Iraq recognizes dual citizenship. Anyone 18 or older whose father was born in Iraq is eligible to vote in this election. That means the three eldest children can and are voting.

NABAA ZALZALA: The stories that I've heard from people about Saddam's regime and the things I've seen in Iraq, I mean the destruction and the people who have had their family all killed but they still want a better future and I think that's what I'm voting for Iraq for the future that those people are wishing for that they're hoping for that they're still clinging onto.

BROWN: The Zalzalas came to the United States as students in the late '70s. Now the biggest decision they face, like many others, is whether to return as part of the new Iraq or stay here and wonder if they could have made a difference.

NAJWA ZALZALA: I cannot decide which one I will go with. Should I go with my life in Iraq and forget this 25 years or do I stay here and will have lost my family? It is a very difficult situation.

What I would like to do is to be able to go every year and I would like to go and work there and with the education we have, with the training we have, we can help and we can do something over there. I think we can make a difference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The Zalzala family of Dearborn, a story that's being duplicated around the country, indeed around the world and whatever the turnout ends up being it is hard to ignore the back story or the sentiments of those who have been turning out so far; reporting for us tonight, CNN's Chris Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Iraqi election in America carries all the excitement but none of the risk. Each ballot cast a cause for celebration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This says we are voting because we love Iraq.

LAWRENCE: So, does Fatima al-Husseini (ph), even though she's never set foot in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go figure, my first election was the Iraqi election.

LAWRENCE: She's 18 years old, American born, excited to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I consider it as an honor, a privilege, and more than those an obligation.

LAWRENCE: Her husband Gatir (ph) immigrated to America four years ago. When he voted in Iraq back then Saddam Hussein's victory was a foregone conclusion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't see anything like this. I see the election department is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) election.

LAWRENCE: Polling places have opened in five cities across the United States, in Los Angeles, Chicago and outside Detroit, from New Carrolton, Maryland to Nashville, Tennessee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today is the happiest day of my life.

LAWRENCE: Iraqis cast their votes in the first free election in half a century.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is the start of a new Iraq.

LAWRENCE: Voter turnout has been lower than many had hoped. Iraqi Americans can still go to the polls through Sunday but even so nine out of ten who were eligible never registered. Many who did cast their ballots called the experience unforgettable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My eyes filled with tears but I was just too shy to drop them.

LAWRENCE: Fatima and Gatir know it will take about ten days to count their ballots but they believe their votes already count toward Iraq's future.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now today this is history. This will be in our children's social studies books.

LAWRENCE: Fatima hopes by the time those books are printed this flag will be flying over a nation devoted to democracy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Now, Fatima, Gatir and other Iraqi Americans were fairly honest with us. They know that their excitement and optimism alone aren't enough to change conditions in Iraq but they think that their votes could be the beginning of rebuilding a worldwide community of Iraqis who feel involved in the country and, Aaron perhaps more importantly are willing to invest their time and money in its future.

BROWN: Two questions. Did you notice any difference in the way people who had lived in the states for 20, 30 years felt about the day and people who had lived here maybe two, three or four years?

LAWRENCE: A little bit more excitement from the people who actually had emigrated from Iraq, who actually had lived through Saddam Hussein, a little bit more perhaps being a little bit more naive, a little bit more optimism from the people who were born here and had lived their whole lives here.

BROWN: And you're just back from Iraq. The difference in how Iraqis living there are looking to the next weekend, to this weekend and the people here?

LAWRENCE: A lot of the people here are looking long term. They're looking, as they said, five, ten years down the road to what the country could be. In Iraq, I found a lot of the people are worried about next month, next year, much more of the immediate future, not so much down the road.

BROWN: Chris, nice job tonight, thank you Chris Lawrence.

In Iraq where it's already Saturday morning, the polls will open in about 24 hours and life in many ways has ground to a halt, the country battened down, the challenge now controlling the Iraqi and of the experiment.

The country has imported 90,000 ballot boxes that came from Canada, $25 a piece; 134,000 voting cabinets made of cardboard are being set up as well. This is the hardware of democracy and it is the easy part. There are 30,000 polling stations to secure. That's not so easy.

Here's CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraq's Election Commission members display the voting boxes and show how people should cast their ballots in private behind these booths.

That's if they dare to show up. With all this violence, Iraq looks more like it's preparing for war than elections with people waiting in long lines to stockpile everything from fuel to bread.

"They're buying more because they're afraid," says Ahmed the baker. "All the shops will be closed for three to four days."

A strict election lockdown is about to be enforced, so people are buying up basics, essential foods and water. It's happening at hospitals too with doctors preparing to spend the nights in their offices preparing for possible widespread bloodshed.

(on camera): The roads are already virtually deserted ahead of the election lockdown to prevent suicide car bombers. But in some Baghdad neighborhoods these anonymous leaflets are being dropped. They give "a final warning to voters to stay away from the polls." They claim to have rockets, mortars and explosives ready for every polling station.

(voice-over): But in some parts of Baghdad you sense a spirit of defiance as the election draws near.

"This is important for all Iraqis for us to have democracy" says this man. "We are not afraid of the dangers. We must vote."

With two days to go before the vote, election workers and party political agents are coming out of hiding, hooting, honking and handing out leaflets even though their colleagues have been threatened and killed during the election campaign.

Newspapers have only just printed the names of all 7,000 candidates after weeks of official secrecy because of fears they would be assassinated. And so people now are eagerly digesting what amounts to a crash course in what to do at the voting booth.

"We support the election," says Hamid. "This is the only way for our country to be stable."

"Iraqis need some strong medicine to cure the violence and chaos that have plagued them since the war," said Sheikh Saud al-Ubadi (ph). "Since when do we live like this" he said. "We are the richest oil country. We need to vote for someone to represent this country and to protect its people."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So, this is, as many have said, democracy at the end of a barrel of the gun, the terrorist gun and the barrels of American guns who are deployed to try to protect this. Many of these people here don't quite know who to vote for don't know what they're really voting for in terms of what type of election. Apparently 40 percent think that they're going to choose a president.

They are not. It will be a National Assembly. It's complicated. It's confusing. It's happened almost in secret this campaign and many people are wondering how many will turn out. And the big question will the end of the day on Sunday prove legitimacy for a new Iraqi political order -- Aaron?

BROWN: Well, I looked at the ballot today. It's an enormous ballot and you get to make one mark. This is a true national election, correct? It's not a provincial election. It's not by province. It is one vote for the country.

AMANPOUR: Well, actually it's two elections. One will be the national where they choose their candidates for the National Assembly and then they will also have another ballot box where they do choose provincial leaders. And up in Kurdistan they have yet another ballot box which is for the Kurdish Parliament.

So, it is very, very complicated, some 7,000 candidates in all according to the Iraqi Electoral Commission and, as I say, candidates who haven't been campaigning. This has been a stealth election campaign and nobody quite knows really what it entails other than for the first time they get to cast a ballot.

BROWN: But are they voting for a candidate or are they voting for a slate of candidates and to what degree are they voting for the Shia slate or the Kurdish slate of candidates?

AMANPOUR: Well, it is. It's list-based voting as in many countries in Western Europe and basically, you know, depending on the percentage that a certain list gets, for instance, the big Shiite coalition called the United Iraqi Alliance, which is expected to wrap up most of or the biggest block of seats, depending on the percentage well then that number of candidates from that party will go into the National Assembly.

BROWN: Christiane, thank you. We'll talk to you later in the hour, Christiane Amanpour who is in Iraq tonight. Voters who do show up to the polls will be marked with special ink. That's true in Iraq and it's true in Dearborn. It's ink to prevent them from voting more than once. It wears off in about three days.

Seventy-two thousand bottles of the ink have been purchased. How much will be needed is anyone's guess at this point but at least this much seems clear. Few Sunnis are expected to go to the polls.

One exception to that may be Baquba, where Sunni religious leaders have now lifted a prohibition on voting in the election on Sunday. Other obstacles, however, may be harder to overcome; reporting for us tonight CNN's Jane Arraf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): This is Radio Diala (ph) on a Friday morning before elections. Rafid Mahmoud (ph), the host of "Good Morning Orange City" is taking listeners' calls. Orange City is Baquba in the heart of the citrus and palm groves, an hour north of Baghdad. His guest is Amir Lateef Nasha (ph), the province's chief election official.

"Everyone's asking who's going to guarantee security when we go to the polls" asks one caller. Nasha tells them that the Iraqi Army and the police will be out in full force to protect them.

U.S. soldiers won't be seen anywhere near the voting sites on Election Day but it's the U.S. military that's been setting them up and securing them.

In Baquba, many voting sites have come under attack by mortar or small arms fire despite efforts to keep polling places secret.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There have been several attacks in this neighborhood. The police station down the road from here has been taken over a couple times by the insurgents.

ARRAF: Still, military officials say that's an improvement over the summer. They say there are fewer and less sophisticated attacks now in Baquba following the arrest of significant insurgent leaders.

This primary school is one voting site. On the gate, insurgents have pasted a list of provincial officials targeted for assassination. Three have already been killed.

At another polling site in Baquba, Colonel Dana Patard (ph) consults this police officer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what do you think can you secure this place?

ARRAF: The officer tells him they've already come under machine gun fire. The colonel asks his men to put up more razor wire.

The family across the street says they don't feel safe being next to a polling site. "It's dangerous here," Odai Sagir (ph) says. The men say they'll all vote though.

The colonel asks them to provide information on the insurgents to help keep the neighborhood safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police need your help because this polling site was fired upon the other night.

ARRAF: One man says Iraqi Police made the situation more dangerous by shooting back indiscriminately.

On Sunday, U.S. troops will hand security for the polling stations and the voters over to the Iraqi Police still getting on their feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thank you for your bravery. Keep it secure.

ARRAF: Whether they're voters or police there will be no shortage of courage at these voting sites on Election Day.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Baquba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: This is amazing stuff tonight when you think about what's about to happen.

Ahead on the program, we'll talk with two Iraqis who have a stake both here and there. We take a break first.

From Dearborn, Michigan this is a CNN Special Report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This is a story we think with two headlines. The first is the easy one, maybe too easy, "Slight Turnout of Iraqi Expats." The second, however, should not be lost, "Joy Among Iraqi Expats as Votes are Cast."

I hope both headlines would seem fair to our guests tonight, Bishop Abraham Abraham of the Chaldean Church in Southfield, Michigan and Imam Husham al-Husainy, our host tonight at the Karbalaa Islamic Center. It's nice to see you both. You've been great hosts. Thank you.

Sheikh, you have been pretty outspoken about the process, which has not always been easy and a voter said to me today, "Look, compared to what those people in Iraq are going through, I can drive across town a couple of times to cast my vote." Why is the turnout what it is?

IMAM HUSHAM AL-HUSAINY, KARBALAA ISLAMIC CENTER: Well, voting is not only a matter of process. It's a matter of value too. And Iraqi is a land of dignity, so the organization did not take care of the dignity and the psychological and the social value of the Iraqis. So that's why they only had a voting center in five states in the United States and the rest of the 45 states is a little bit -- I mean there is nothing there so even if they can drive to there but it could be much easier for them. Some of them are pregnant. Some of them are old. Some of them are -- so, they failed to touch and organize the situation which is go along with the Iraqi social values.

And I want to jump to my colleague the bishop but it could be much better. But anyway here is two dimensions. I mean one is we are so eager to vote, wanted to vote. We have to vote and, as you know, there's three dimensions in this voting, spiritual dimension, national dimension and humanitarian dimension.

But the process has to be democratic, so it's not only the goal and the purpose but the process got to be democratic because we cannot reach democracy without democratic way.

BROWN: I don't want to spend all our time talking about why people didn't vote. Let me ask one more question in this vein because it's really interesting to me. You have in this community -- this is an established Iraqi American community. You have people, and both of you would qualify, who have lived here ten, 15, 20, 30 years. I wonder to what degree honestly people in this community feel more American than Iraqi.

BISHOP ABRAHAM ABRAHAM, ST. THOMAS CHALDEAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE: I think even if they feel that way, especially those that are born here in the United States but the others who came from Iraq that's who they are American citizens, but really they feel that they are from that country and their duty, religious duty, humanitarian duty and their solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Iraq they feel that Iraq is still their country.

BROWN: I think, Sheikh, you said it to us earlier, unlike the American government you really don't separate the religious from the state, which will be ultimately a challenge for the new government but this is in your view at least a religious obligation to vote.

AL-HUSAINY: It sure is, sir, because in Islam and the other religions too, the Bible, Torah, Quran, we believe in the value of justice, democracy, equality, freedom, so this is faith. This is religion, so why should we separate it? So they go together and we have no problem.

That's why so many things motivate me to go vote. As I said, it is a holy duty. It's a national duty. It's a political duty, humanitarian duty. This is our country, our future, our nation and I cannot separate it. If I would separate it, it would die.

BROWN: People obviously watched you both vote today. You voted together. It was an act of solidarity. It was quite powerful. But each of you voted individually and I wonder what it felt like. Bishop, what did it feel like when you cast that vote?

ABRAHAM: When I cast my vote really I felt that I am doing something good for Iraq and for my brothers and sisters over there. As a sign of my solidarity with them, even if I am 1,000 miles far from Iraq or even I left Iraq 25 years ago but still my duty is to help them in any way I can. And voting today was one way to help them really and to show them that we are concerned about their future.

BROWN: How does it help them?

AL-HUSAINY: Well, you know, Iraqi is a holy land, the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, the Shrine of Adam and Noah, and the land of Babylon, Mesopotamia, Syrian Chaldea and Karbala, Baghdad. This is a mixed culture and we went there to show our unity, solidarity and we did not go, actually I did not go to vote just as a Muslim. I went to go as an Iraqi. So, we both went there as Iraqis to unite Iraq, to work for Iraq, to build Iraq.

BROWN: It's been a very, bishop it's been a very difficult year in Iraq, difficult, terribly difficult for Iraqis, difficult for Americans. Do you worry that American patience will run out before this infant can grow to be an adult?

ABRAHAM: We hope so because we are waiting for that infant to grow already and to be a handsome young man, to assure a better future for all Iraqis. Here is not only Muslim, not only Christian, not only different parties but all Iraqis they are waiting for that infant to grow or to be born really now by today or by voting Election Day.

BROWN: I think we'll all hold our breath for the weekend. It's good to see you again and in person. Thanks for your hospitality. It's nice to meet you.

ABRAHAM: Thank you. Thank you very much.

BROWN: Thank you. I hope it all goes great this weekend.

Coming up the pathways to the polls in Iraq were built as we have discussed here by American sacrifice. Soldiers have lost lives. American families have sacrificed loved ones. That too is part of the story we tell tonight from Dearborn, Michigan in a CNN Special Report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: From where we are tonight, there is a special appreciation of the efforts of the American soldiers in Iraq.

It's been something quite joyful, to be honest. People here get how the hard work of the American soldiers, men and women, the sacrifice, the loss that made this election possible. One expat told me today that he's voting in large part because he felt it was a way of bringing the American soldiers home sooner and a way to honor those who will not come home at all.

That number has grown a good deal this week, a bad week. And it will grow some more. These are not statistics to us. They are lives, families left to start again.

CNN's Frank Buckley tonight from Omaha, Nebraska.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

APRIL KIELION, WIFE OF KILLED U.S. SOLDIER: Here we go.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): April Kielion looks into her baby boy's face and sees her late husband, Shane, looking back.

A. KIELION: Every time I look at him, I see his father and knowing that we were supposed to share a life together and have a family. And we're not going to have that anymore. It's hard.

BUCKLEY: Marine Corporal Shane Kielion, 23 years old, was killed in action in Falluja on November 15.

A. KIELION: I can't imagine not being with him again.

BUCKLEY: November 15, a day seared into April's life, and not just because it was the day her husband was killed. It was also the day Shane Jr. was born.

A. KIELION: I still have so much disbelief, you know? And it's, like, how do you explain the hardest day in your life is one of the most happiest days too?

BUCKLEY: As it was for Roger and Pat Kielion. They gained a grandson on that day, but lost a child.

ROGER KIELION, FATHER OF KILLED U.S. SOLDIER: Quarter to 3:00 in the morning, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) everything just came crashing down completely.

PAT KIELION, FATHER OF KILLED U.S. SOLDIER: Went from such a high to such a...

R. KIELION: Yes.

P. KIELION: They say, well, you have got the baby. Yes, we have the baby, but it's still -- it's not our Shane.

BUCKLEY: All of Omaha seemed to turn out for Shane's funeral. Thousands lined the streets. He was the first of the city's citizens killed in combat in Iraq.

Jay Ball (ph) was Shane's high school football coach. As a team captain and starting quarterback, Shane led South High to the state playoffs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People respect the kind of person that Shane was. He went to school every day. He didn't get in trouble. He represented the country, was awful proud to do that. He was so proud to be a Marine.

BUCKLEY: Shane's jersey, his No. 1, was retired after he was killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's only one other person who will ever get to wear that at South High School. And that would be Shane Jr.

BUCKLEY: Shane Jr. will grow up hearing stories about his father from people who loved him and who are determined to keep his memory alive.

(on camera): They want to be sure that, even though Shane Jr. will never meet his father, he will know him.

(voice-over): Know No. 1.

A. KIELION: How athletic he was, how he could make everybody laugh.

BUCKLEY: How much he loved his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He would always kind of tilt his head back. Oh, coach, she's so beautiful, and, oh, I just love her. And then, of course, his baby was coming. And he was really excited about that.

BUCKLEY: Shane Jr. will hear about the cocky young man that was Nick Sidzick's (ph) best friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lost Shane. But this is the closest thing I have. And it's pretty much a replica of him. And it's all I have. And I'm going to hold on to it as tight as I can.

BUCKLEY: And when the time is right, Shane's No. 1 necklace, the one he gave to his mom just before boot camp, will go to the blonde baby who looks just like his dad, a boy his grandma calls Frosty.

P. KIELION: When my Frosty grows up enough to know, I'm going to put it on him to know that his dad was No. 1.

BUCKLEY: The son of a fallen Marine, a boy from America's heartland.

Frank Buckley, CNN, Omaha, Nebraska.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We assume that, in Iraq, there are plenty of Iraqis who are grateful to the American sacrifice. What we know for a fact, because we lived it today, is, there are plenty of Iraqi-Americans in this community who are extraordinarily grateful for what the American military has done over the last two years there, as they look to this weekend.

This special report continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Here in Dearborn, Michigan, the Iraqi elections can be as close as a neighbor, quite literally. As we said at the top, the city is home to the largest expatriate community in the United States. Getting the polls ready for Iraqi voters, though, has not been as daunting a job as in Iraq itself. It has, nevertheless, as you heard earlier, been an enormous task.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): When you get paid to run elections, it's helpful to know what you're doing.

JOHN GATTORN, IRAQ OUT-OF-COUNTRY STATE DIRECTOR: I have worked in Iraq. I worked in Iraq for six months last year. I have experience setting up elections in Kosovo and in Bosnia and in East Timor. And I have been an election monitor in nine other countries in Eastern and Central Europe.

BUCKLEY: So, when they asked John Gattorn to be in charge in his first election inside the United States, his plans were, to say the least, ambitious.

GATTORN: OK. Each one of these pods that you're in represents a polling station. There are 64 polling stations here. And each polling station can handle up to 2,000 voters, so we have a system in place that will handle over 100,000 voters, because that's what we were told the eligible voters would be.

BUCKLEY: By the time the ballots arrived, it was clear that only about one-tenth that many people would actually be voting here in Michigan, so the expectations and the logistics have been pared down.

GATTORN: The people who are coming here are of Iraqi descent, all of them, Chaldean and Muslims. About two-thirds of the community are Chaldean. One-third or less are Muslim, predominantly Shia Muslim.

BUCKLEY: The Shias, of course, are the majority inside Iraq. But the Chaldeans, Christians, are dominant here in Dearborn. And while they may be in parts of Iraq under siege, here, they are trying to work together.

IMAM HUSHAM AL HUSAINY, DIRECTOR, KARBALA ISLAMIC CENTER: It's important to us to build the bridges of a good relationship between the East and the West, between Muslim and Christian, between Iraq and America, because so many politician abuse the relationship and so many politician ruined the relationship and they burn the bridge. So we are here to build the bridge.

BUCKLEY: As for today's voting, the man in charge on the ground says, even if the turnout is lower than expected, what's important is what lies ahead.

GATTORN: But it's the first time they've ever been involved with elections, so we have to look at all the forms in every single minuscule detail to make sure everything is followed perfectly, so they learn from this experience. And the next elections coming up, maybe there will be other out-of-country voting operations. So, this is not only an election now, but a lesson learned for future elections.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: As we said, getting the polls ready here has been as nearly as daunting as getting the polls ready in Iraq, but I will tell you that security was a concern here. To get into the polling place, you had to walk through metal detectors today.

Ahead on the program, the challenges of reporting the story, not from here, but from there. A reporter's notebook is next.

This is a CNN special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Reporters have been covering elections for as long as there have been ballot boxes. In this country, for the most part, it is routine work for journalists. Not often the case in other parts of the world. Elections can be dangerous business for voters and, therefore, for reporters, Iraq the latest example.

Nothing about Iraq is routine or safe, really, as Anderson Cooper found out just trying to get into the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The flight to Baghdad starts off like any other flight. You fly high above the clouds. Endless stretches of sand far below. It's only when you're right above Baghdad, you realize, this is not a normal flight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The final part of our descent will be from overhead the airfield in a spiral fashion. It may feel a little uncomfortable on the body, but nevertheless, it's due to safety and security.

COOPER: The plane turns sharply, spiraling downward. A corkscrew to avoid taking fire. Though the insurgents know the maneuver.

Not everything goes as planned, however. Suddenly, fighter jets appear underneath. There's fighting at the airport. It's too dangerous to land.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are returning back to Amman, and we will take it from there, depending on how long the military operations will last here in Baghdad.

COOPER: The next day, another flight. The plane finally gets permission to land.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly be landing at Baghdad International Airport. Kindly return to your seats and make sure that your seat belts are securely fastened. Put your seats in the upright position.

COOPER: The road into town from Baghdad's airport is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world. You drive fast, constantly aware of people passing by, cars getting too close, buildings insurgent spotters could use to target your car. Sometimes, however, you simply get stuck.

(on camera): We're stuck in a traffic jam, it seems. It seems like a traffic jam, which is such an ordinary occurrence. All of a sudden, that's a security threat, because, you know, someone could just come up alongside the vehicle, another car could just slam right into you. You're sort of a sitting duck.

(voice-over): Election posters are all around. It's too dangerous for candidates to appear in persons.

Some days you wake and don't want to go outside. You ask yourself, Do I need to take my vest? Do I need to wear my helmet? The answer is almost always yes.

Even if you don't go out, you can't escape the violence. All day long, e-mails from Iraqis, from soldiers, from people you don't even know, a steady stream of death and progress, suicide attacks, schools built, police killed, insurgents caught, shrapnel and bullets, bombs and ballots. At times, it all seems surreal.

In the Green Zone, a young soldier drives an SUV. For a moment, the music makes it feel like home.

Hitching a ride on a chopper, you rise above the dirt and dust, fly low, shaken by the power of American might, the rotor slicing the morning air. In Iraq, Americans rule the sky. But on the streets it's another matter.

On a night patrol, an American platoon checks up on Iraqi soldiers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you guys doing?

COOPER: Riding along in a pitch-black Humvee, you can't help but admire these guys. Reporters can leave, fly home when they're done. These guys are stuck for the long haul. Night and day, day and night, they work round the clock, countless patrols, no end in sight.

Outside a polling station, an Iraqi National Guardsman masked and alone stares out into the darkness. Gunshots echo in the street. Police look like insurgents, insurgents dressed like police. The nights and days in Baghdad seem very long indeed.

Anderson Cooper, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Anderson and Christiane join us from Baghdad after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're back in Dearborn, Michigan, along with Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour, who are in Baghdad.

Guys, we have two minutes and 15 seconds. Let's see how much business we can do.

Christiane, do you feel like you know how it's going to play out on Sunday?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. And I think that we'll know only in the early hours, and it will be -- whatever happens on the ground in the early hours, it will probably dictate the pace and the momentum of the day.

COOPER: Yes.

One soldier, Aaron, said to me on patrol the other night, he said, on Sunday morning, he thinks the people in his neighborhood in his sector, the Iraqis are going to poke their head out of their homes, kind of take a reading of the temperature, the vibe on the street. And, in his words, he said, if they get a warm, fuzzy feeling, they'll come out and vote. If not, they'll stay indoors.

BROWN: I just had -- for no reason, and I'm thousands of miles away -- I have this funny feeling they're going to surprise a lot of people on Sunday.

AMANPOUR: Well, you know what? Some of the political leaders are saying that as well, particularly this very highly contested issue of whether the Sunnis are going to come out in those four very, very violent provinces.

Some people are saying that they may see a higher-than-expected turnout among Sunnis because they don't want to be left at the station when the train is on its way out into the new Iraq, so to speak. So they're hoping that more people than expected will turn out.

COOPER: And, of course, everyone ends their sentence here by saying inshallah, God willing. So inshallah, indeed.

BROWN: Yes.

All of us, Anderson, were in South Africa during that extraordinary election. And there was a balance there between fear and determination also, but it was much higher on the determination scale and a bit lower on the fear scale. I gather that, in Iraq, it's a bit different.

COOPER: Yes, absolutely.

I mean, the fear in South Africa, as I recall, wasn't nearly as omnipresent as it is here. It is palpable. And the security position is unlike anyplace I or you or Christiane probably has been before. Even in Sarajevo, during the war, you could...

AMANPOUR: Yes.

COOPER: There was a sense you could kind of spend hours walking around.

AMANPOUR: Yes. And I think it's important, while we compare, for instance, South Africa's incredible, incredible 1994 election to what's happening today, there is really no comparison. People who have been doing elections for generations say there's never been one that's taken place in this kind of atmosphere of violence and uncertainty, stealth election campaigns, political party leaders who can't even go out on the streets and do the normal get-out-the-vote...

COOPER: And, I mean, people you were interviewing...

AMANPOUR: Yes.

COOPER: A lot of female candidates didn't even want their faces shown.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

COOPER: Because they didn't want people to know who were they were. They were that scared. It's...

AMANPOUR: Male and female, yes.

BROWN: Well, you guys have been terrific. We look forward to the rest of the weekend working with you. Thanks again, Christiane and Anderson. Stay safe out there.

Still ahead from us in Dearborn tonight, high above one of the busiest corners of the world, images of Iraq meant to stop millions in their tracks.

We take a break first. From Dearborn, this is a CNN special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This weekend, Iraq will become part of the New York skyline. Magnum Photos had an idea to use Times Square as a reminder of the past and the present in a place that most certainly will bear on the future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK LUBELL, DIRECTOR, MAGNUM PHOTOS: Forty-second street and 8th Avenue, as you might know, is one of the most commercial places in New York City; 1.5 million people travel through this space per day. SmartSign Media had a billboard which allowed us to present Magnum work from Iraq.

And it's not imagery that you would normally see in this location. And we thought it was very fitting leading up to the election to show work from the last five years before we actually entered the conflict, during the conflict and up to present day.

When you are there as a photographer and you're covering it, you become part of the story itself. And I think it was Ilkka's interpretation and expression of what his experience was, which is chaos, confusion. And I think those images reflect that.

We have 105 images currently that are playing in rotation. And two photographers that were in Iraq sat down and looked at the work and edited through thousands of images and picked these images that storyboards the conflict.

Magnum photographers look for the human story. And I think this is a human conflict. And so the images reflect that, both from this side, from the funerals of servicemen, to the funerals in Iraq.

The story is about humanity. And when you see small children in Iraq swimming in a pool with destruction around it, I think it takes away all of the political involvement. It's very easy for people in their daily routine to forget about what is happening in Iraq and with our soldiers and our position in the world.

In a way, if we can be a daily reminder to people that what is happening, I think that we are doing our part on a visual front and that maybe that will inspire people to take action.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: That's our report from Dearborn. We'll see you again Sunday from New York and take a look at what it all meant.

Have a wonderful weekend. And good night for all of us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired January 28, 2005 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
We are in Dearborn and it is the largest Iraqi expatriate community in America. Nearly 100,000 Iraqi Americans live here. For them, today was Election Day. They did not, in fact, come out to vote in droves.

Fewer than one in ten will likely vote in the Iraqi national election but those who do and those who did today have voted with great joy, great satisfaction and, I must tell you, great gratitude for the American soldiers who made their vote possible. That isn't politics. That's fact and that's a large part of the program tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): So the numbers tell but part of the story as Iraqis around the world go to the polls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is the start of a new Iraq.

BROWN: Making it happen is one thing. Making it work is another.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not only an election now but a lesson learned for future elections.

BROWN: We'll talk with one of the organizers of this historic undertaking.

A reminder in Iraq this is no ordinary election, our correspondents in country look at the preparations and the price in Iraqi and American lives.

Back home, the youngest reminder of the cost of war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every time I look at him I see his father and, you know, knowing that, you know, we were supposed to share our life together and have a family and we're not going to have it anymore. It's hard.

BROWN: And bringing Iraq home at the crossroads of the world, still photos that will stop you in your tracks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: All that and more tonight. We begin at the American end of an experiment with much at stake. We also begin with a reminder. Whatever happens this weekend, as Iraqis around the world choose a new National Assembly, it is but a start.

The new assembly will write a new constitution. The government may reevaluate its relationship with the United States. American troops will stay or go or something perhaps in between. The center may hold. Then again it may not. It is but a start.

And the voting today is just the beginning of the beginning. The only problem to speak of so far, as we've said, is turnout but those who came, and some came great distances, came to make a statement.

They want this new Iraqi government, whatever it is to be, to have the stamp of legitimacy. To make it so, the family you just saw voting is doing more than simply showing up and casting their ballots.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): They are part of a new generation of Iraqis here in the states, unsure exactly where they belong but very sure that this election can only make things better.

SAJAD ZALZALA: It's a challenge getting the youth voting out but I think if we target the right areas, we can get the youth involved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, remember this is so important.

NEAM ZALZALA: I channeled my energies regarding the voting into having women be more aware that now is their chance to voice their opinions, voice their thoughts and they can be politically active.

BROWN: They are part of the Zalzala family, mother, father, four children. These expatriates are meeting and helping to organize a get-out-the-vote campaign, important they say because their entire family returned to Iraq last year meeting dozens of aunts and uncles and cousins they had been hearing about all their lives.

MURTATHA ZALZALA: We're kind of torn between the two worlds, you know. You got this life here, which you've been living your whole life and then you have Iraq and it's a lot different. And so, there's this sort of feeling to compel you to stay here and then there's also that feeling, you know, you have to go back because that's where you belong, you know, and that's where all our family is.

NEAM ZALZALA: When I got there, I was like, wow, this is my country. This is the country that I was born in. Even though I wasn't raised in it, I felt a sense of belonging.

BROWN: And a sense of responsibility as well.

S. ZALZALA: A lot of Iraqis feel like they're misplaced and a lot of them, the majority of them feel like that Iraq is their home and they belong there. I felt it was my duty to make sure other people knew about the election. BROWN: The new Iraq recognizes dual citizenship. Anyone 18 or older whose father was born in Iraq is eligible to vote in this election. That means the three eldest children can and are voting.

NABAA ZALZALA: The stories that I've heard from people about Saddam's regime and the things I've seen in Iraq, I mean the destruction and the people who have had their family all killed but they still want a better future and I think that's what I'm voting for Iraq for the future that those people are wishing for that they're hoping for that they're still clinging onto.

BROWN: The Zalzalas came to the United States as students in the late '70s. Now the biggest decision they face, like many others, is whether to return as part of the new Iraq or stay here and wonder if they could have made a difference.

NAJWA ZALZALA: I cannot decide which one I will go with. Should I go with my life in Iraq and forget this 25 years or do I stay here and will have lost my family? It is a very difficult situation.

What I would like to do is to be able to go every year and I would like to go and work there and with the education we have, with the training we have, we can help and we can do something over there. I think we can make a difference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The Zalzala family of Dearborn, a story that's being duplicated around the country, indeed around the world and whatever the turnout ends up being it is hard to ignore the back story or the sentiments of those who have been turning out so far; reporting for us tonight, CNN's Chris Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Iraqi election in America carries all the excitement but none of the risk. Each ballot cast a cause for celebration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This says we are voting because we love Iraq.

LAWRENCE: So, does Fatima al-Husseini (ph), even though she's never set foot in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go figure, my first election was the Iraqi election.

LAWRENCE: She's 18 years old, American born, excited to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I consider it as an honor, a privilege, and more than those an obligation.

LAWRENCE: Her husband Gatir (ph) immigrated to America four years ago. When he voted in Iraq back then Saddam Hussein's victory was a foregone conclusion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't see anything like this. I see the election department is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) election.

LAWRENCE: Polling places have opened in five cities across the United States, in Los Angeles, Chicago and outside Detroit, from New Carrolton, Maryland to Nashville, Tennessee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today is the happiest day of my life.

LAWRENCE: Iraqis cast their votes in the first free election in half a century.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is the start of a new Iraq.

LAWRENCE: Voter turnout has been lower than many had hoped. Iraqi Americans can still go to the polls through Sunday but even so nine out of ten who were eligible never registered. Many who did cast their ballots called the experience unforgettable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My eyes filled with tears but I was just too shy to drop them.

LAWRENCE: Fatima and Gatir know it will take about ten days to count their ballots but they believe their votes already count toward Iraq's future.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now today this is history. This will be in our children's social studies books.

LAWRENCE: Fatima hopes by the time those books are printed this flag will be flying over a nation devoted to democracy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Now, Fatima, Gatir and other Iraqi Americans were fairly honest with us. They know that their excitement and optimism alone aren't enough to change conditions in Iraq but they think that their votes could be the beginning of rebuilding a worldwide community of Iraqis who feel involved in the country and, Aaron perhaps more importantly are willing to invest their time and money in its future.

BROWN: Two questions. Did you notice any difference in the way people who had lived in the states for 20, 30 years felt about the day and people who had lived here maybe two, three or four years?

LAWRENCE: A little bit more excitement from the people who actually had emigrated from Iraq, who actually had lived through Saddam Hussein, a little bit more perhaps being a little bit more naive, a little bit more optimism from the people who were born here and had lived their whole lives here.

BROWN: And you're just back from Iraq. The difference in how Iraqis living there are looking to the next weekend, to this weekend and the people here?

LAWRENCE: A lot of the people here are looking long term. They're looking, as they said, five, ten years down the road to what the country could be. In Iraq, I found a lot of the people are worried about next month, next year, much more of the immediate future, not so much down the road.

BROWN: Chris, nice job tonight, thank you Chris Lawrence.

In Iraq where it's already Saturday morning, the polls will open in about 24 hours and life in many ways has ground to a halt, the country battened down, the challenge now controlling the Iraqi and of the experiment.

The country has imported 90,000 ballot boxes that came from Canada, $25 a piece; 134,000 voting cabinets made of cardboard are being set up as well. This is the hardware of democracy and it is the easy part. There are 30,000 polling stations to secure. That's not so easy.

Here's CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraq's Election Commission members display the voting boxes and show how people should cast their ballots in private behind these booths.

That's if they dare to show up. With all this violence, Iraq looks more like it's preparing for war than elections with people waiting in long lines to stockpile everything from fuel to bread.

"They're buying more because they're afraid," says Ahmed the baker. "All the shops will be closed for three to four days."

A strict election lockdown is about to be enforced, so people are buying up basics, essential foods and water. It's happening at hospitals too with doctors preparing to spend the nights in their offices preparing for possible widespread bloodshed.

(on camera): The roads are already virtually deserted ahead of the election lockdown to prevent suicide car bombers. But in some Baghdad neighborhoods these anonymous leaflets are being dropped. They give "a final warning to voters to stay away from the polls." They claim to have rockets, mortars and explosives ready for every polling station.

(voice-over): But in some parts of Baghdad you sense a spirit of defiance as the election draws near.

"This is important for all Iraqis for us to have democracy" says this man. "We are not afraid of the dangers. We must vote."

With two days to go before the vote, election workers and party political agents are coming out of hiding, hooting, honking and handing out leaflets even though their colleagues have been threatened and killed during the election campaign.

Newspapers have only just printed the names of all 7,000 candidates after weeks of official secrecy because of fears they would be assassinated. And so people now are eagerly digesting what amounts to a crash course in what to do at the voting booth.

"We support the election," says Hamid. "This is the only way for our country to be stable."

"Iraqis need some strong medicine to cure the violence and chaos that have plagued them since the war," said Sheikh Saud al-Ubadi (ph). "Since when do we live like this" he said. "We are the richest oil country. We need to vote for someone to represent this country and to protect its people."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So, this is, as many have said, democracy at the end of a barrel of the gun, the terrorist gun and the barrels of American guns who are deployed to try to protect this. Many of these people here don't quite know who to vote for don't know what they're really voting for in terms of what type of election. Apparently 40 percent think that they're going to choose a president.

They are not. It will be a National Assembly. It's complicated. It's confusing. It's happened almost in secret this campaign and many people are wondering how many will turn out. And the big question will the end of the day on Sunday prove legitimacy for a new Iraqi political order -- Aaron?

BROWN: Well, I looked at the ballot today. It's an enormous ballot and you get to make one mark. This is a true national election, correct? It's not a provincial election. It's not by province. It is one vote for the country.

AMANPOUR: Well, actually it's two elections. One will be the national where they choose their candidates for the National Assembly and then they will also have another ballot box where they do choose provincial leaders. And up in Kurdistan they have yet another ballot box which is for the Kurdish Parliament.

So, it is very, very complicated, some 7,000 candidates in all according to the Iraqi Electoral Commission and, as I say, candidates who haven't been campaigning. This has been a stealth election campaign and nobody quite knows really what it entails other than for the first time they get to cast a ballot.

BROWN: But are they voting for a candidate or are they voting for a slate of candidates and to what degree are they voting for the Shia slate or the Kurdish slate of candidates?

AMANPOUR: Well, it is. It's list-based voting as in many countries in Western Europe and basically, you know, depending on the percentage that a certain list gets, for instance, the big Shiite coalition called the United Iraqi Alliance, which is expected to wrap up most of or the biggest block of seats, depending on the percentage well then that number of candidates from that party will go into the National Assembly.

BROWN: Christiane, thank you. We'll talk to you later in the hour, Christiane Amanpour who is in Iraq tonight. Voters who do show up to the polls will be marked with special ink. That's true in Iraq and it's true in Dearborn. It's ink to prevent them from voting more than once. It wears off in about three days.

Seventy-two thousand bottles of the ink have been purchased. How much will be needed is anyone's guess at this point but at least this much seems clear. Few Sunnis are expected to go to the polls.

One exception to that may be Baquba, where Sunni religious leaders have now lifted a prohibition on voting in the election on Sunday. Other obstacles, however, may be harder to overcome; reporting for us tonight CNN's Jane Arraf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): This is Radio Diala (ph) on a Friday morning before elections. Rafid Mahmoud (ph), the host of "Good Morning Orange City" is taking listeners' calls. Orange City is Baquba in the heart of the citrus and palm groves, an hour north of Baghdad. His guest is Amir Lateef Nasha (ph), the province's chief election official.

"Everyone's asking who's going to guarantee security when we go to the polls" asks one caller. Nasha tells them that the Iraqi Army and the police will be out in full force to protect them.

U.S. soldiers won't be seen anywhere near the voting sites on Election Day but it's the U.S. military that's been setting them up and securing them.

In Baquba, many voting sites have come under attack by mortar or small arms fire despite efforts to keep polling places secret.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There have been several attacks in this neighborhood. The police station down the road from here has been taken over a couple times by the insurgents.

ARRAF: Still, military officials say that's an improvement over the summer. They say there are fewer and less sophisticated attacks now in Baquba following the arrest of significant insurgent leaders.

This primary school is one voting site. On the gate, insurgents have pasted a list of provincial officials targeted for assassination. Three have already been killed.

At another polling site in Baquba, Colonel Dana Patard (ph) consults this police officer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what do you think can you secure this place?

ARRAF: The officer tells him they've already come under machine gun fire. The colonel asks his men to put up more razor wire.

The family across the street says they don't feel safe being next to a polling site. "It's dangerous here," Odai Sagir (ph) says. The men say they'll all vote though.

The colonel asks them to provide information on the insurgents to help keep the neighborhood safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police need your help because this polling site was fired upon the other night.

ARRAF: One man says Iraqi Police made the situation more dangerous by shooting back indiscriminately.

On Sunday, U.S. troops will hand security for the polling stations and the voters over to the Iraqi Police still getting on their feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thank you for your bravery. Keep it secure.

ARRAF: Whether they're voters or police there will be no shortage of courage at these voting sites on Election Day.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Baquba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: This is amazing stuff tonight when you think about what's about to happen.

Ahead on the program, we'll talk with two Iraqis who have a stake both here and there. We take a break first.

From Dearborn, Michigan this is a CNN Special Report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This is a story we think with two headlines. The first is the easy one, maybe too easy, "Slight Turnout of Iraqi Expats." The second, however, should not be lost, "Joy Among Iraqi Expats as Votes are Cast."

I hope both headlines would seem fair to our guests tonight, Bishop Abraham Abraham of the Chaldean Church in Southfield, Michigan and Imam Husham al-Husainy, our host tonight at the Karbalaa Islamic Center. It's nice to see you both. You've been great hosts. Thank you.

Sheikh, you have been pretty outspoken about the process, which has not always been easy and a voter said to me today, "Look, compared to what those people in Iraq are going through, I can drive across town a couple of times to cast my vote." Why is the turnout what it is?

IMAM HUSHAM AL-HUSAINY, KARBALAA ISLAMIC CENTER: Well, voting is not only a matter of process. It's a matter of value too. And Iraqi is a land of dignity, so the organization did not take care of the dignity and the psychological and the social value of the Iraqis. So that's why they only had a voting center in five states in the United States and the rest of the 45 states is a little bit -- I mean there is nothing there so even if they can drive to there but it could be much easier for them. Some of them are pregnant. Some of them are old. Some of them are -- so, they failed to touch and organize the situation which is go along with the Iraqi social values.

And I want to jump to my colleague the bishop but it could be much better. But anyway here is two dimensions. I mean one is we are so eager to vote, wanted to vote. We have to vote and, as you know, there's three dimensions in this voting, spiritual dimension, national dimension and humanitarian dimension.

But the process has to be democratic, so it's not only the goal and the purpose but the process got to be democratic because we cannot reach democracy without democratic way.

BROWN: I don't want to spend all our time talking about why people didn't vote. Let me ask one more question in this vein because it's really interesting to me. You have in this community -- this is an established Iraqi American community. You have people, and both of you would qualify, who have lived here ten, 15, 20, 30 years. I wonder to what degree honestly people in this community feel more American than Iraqi.

BISHOP ABRAHAM ABRAHAM, ST. THOMAS CHALDEAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE: I think even if they feel that way, especially those that are born here in the United States but the others who came from Iraq that's who they are American citizens, but really they feel that they are from that country and their duty, religious duty, humanitarian duty and their solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Iraq they feel that Iraq is still their country.

BROWN: I think, Sheikh, you said it to us earlier, unlike the American government you really don't separate the religious from the state, which will be ultimately a challenge for the new government but this is in your view at least a religious obligation to vote.

AL-HUSAINY: It sure is, sir, because in Islam and the other religions too, the Bible, Torah, Quran, we believe in the value of justice, democracy, equality, freedom, so this is faith. This is religion, so why should we separate it? So they go together and we have no problem.

That's why so many things motivate me to go vote. As I said, it is a holy duty. It's a national duty. It's a political duty, humanitarian duty. This is our country, our future, our nation and I cannot separate it. If I would separate it, it would die.

BROWN: People obviously watched you both vote today. You voted together. It was an act of solidarity. It was quite powerful. But each of you voted individually and I wonder what it felt like. Bishop, what did it feel like when you cast that vote?

ABRAHAM: When I cast my vote really I felt that I am doing something good for Iraq and for my brothers and sisters over there. As a sign of my solidarity with them, even if I am 1,000 miles far from Iraq or even I left Iraq 25 years ago but still my duty is to help them in any way I can. And voting today was one way to help them really and to show them that we are concerned about their future.

BROWN: How does it help them?

AL-HUSAINY: Well, you know, Iraqi is a holy land, the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, the Shrine of Adam and Noah, and the land of Babylon, Mesopotamia, Syrian Chaldea and Karbala, Baghdad. This is a mixed culture and we went there to show our unity, solidarity and we did not go, actually I did not go to vote just as a Muslim. I went to go as an Iraqi. So, we both went there as Iraqis to unite Iraq, to work for Iraq, to build Iraq.

BROWN: It's been a very, bishop it's been a very difficult year in Iraq, difficult, terribly difficult for Iraqis, difficult for Americans. Do you worry that American patience will run out before this infant can grow to be an adult?

ABRAHAM: We hope so because we are waiting for that infant to grow already and to be a handsome young man, to assure a better future for all Iraqis. Here is not only Muslim, not only Christian, not only different parties but all Iraqis they are waiting for that infant to grow or to be born really now by today or by voting Election Day.

BROWN: I think we'll all hold our breath for the weekend. It's good to see you again and in person. Thanks for your hospitality. It's nice to meet you.

ABRAHAM: Thank you. Thank you very much.

BROWN: Thank you. I hope it all goes great this weekend.

Coming up the pathways to the polls in Iraq were built as we have discussed here by American sacrifice. Soldiers have lost lives. American families have sacrificed loved ones. That too is part of the story we tell tonight from Dearborn, Michigan in a CNN Special Report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: From where we are tonight, there is a special appreciation of the efforts of the American soldiers in Iraq.

It's been something quite joyful, to be honest. People here get how the hard work of the American soldiers, men and women, the sacrifice, the loss that made this election possible. One expat told me today that he's voting in large part because he felt it was a way of bringing the American soldiers home sooner and a way to honor those who will not come home at all.

That number has grown a good deal this week, a bad week. And it will grow some more. These are not statistics to us. They are lives, families left to start again.

CNN's Frank Buckley tonight from Omaha, Nebraska.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

APRIL KIELION, WIFE OF KILLED U.S. SOLDIER: Here we go.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): April Kielion looks into her baby boy's face and sees her late husband, Shane, looking back.

A. KIELION: Every time I look at him, I see his father and knowing that we were supposed to share a life together and have a family. And we're not going to have that anymore. It's hard.

BUCKLEY: Marine Corporal Shane Kielion, 23 years old, was killed in action in Falluja on November 15.

A. KIELION: I can't imagine not being with him again.

BUCKLEY: November 15, a day seared into April's life, and not just because it was the day her husband was killed. It was also the day Shane Jr. was born.

A. KIELION: I still have so much disbelief, you know? And it's, like, how do you explain the hardest day in your life is one of the most happiest days too?

BUCKLEY: As it was for Roger and Pat Kielion. They gained a grandson on that day, but lost a child.

ROGER KIELION, FATHER OF KILLED U.S. SOLDIER: Quarter to 3:00 in the morning, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) everything just came crashing down completely.

PAT KIELION, FATHER OF KILLED U.S. SOLDIER: Went from such a high to such a...

R. KIELION: Yes.

P. KIELION: They say, well, you have got the baby. Yes, we have the baby, but it's still -- it's not our Shane.

BUCKLEY: All of Omaha seemed to turn out for Shane's funeral. Thousands lined the streets. He was the first of the city's citizens killed in combat in Iraq.

Jay Ball (ph) was Shane's high school football coach. As a team captain and starting quarterback, Shane led South High to the state playoffs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People respect the kind of person that Shane was. He went to school every day. He didn't get in trouble. He represented the country, was awful proud to do that. He was so proud to be a Marine.

BUCKLEY: Shane's jersey, his No. 1, was retired after he was killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's only one other person who will ever get to wear that at South High School. And that would be Shane Jr.

BUCKLEY: Shane Jr. will grow up hearing stories about his father from people who loved him and who are determined to keep his memory alive.

(on camera): They want to be sure that, even though Shane Jr. will never meet his father, he will know him.

(voice-over): Know No. 1.

A. KIELION: How athletic he was, how he could make everybody laugh.

BUCKLEY: How much he loved his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He would always kind of tilt his head back. Oh, coach, she's so beautiful, and, oh, I just love her. And then, of course, his baby was coming. And he was really excited about that.

BUCKLEY: Shane Jr. will hear about the cocky young man that was Nick Sidzick's (ph) best friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lost Shane. But this is the closest thing I have. And it's pretty much a replica of him. And it's all I have. And I'm going to hold on to it as tight as I can.

BUCKLEY: And when the time is right, Shane's No. 1 necklace, the one he gave to his mom just before boot camp, will go to the blonde baby who looks just like his dad, a boy his grandma calls Frosty.

P. KIELION: When my Frosty grows up enough to know, I'm going to put it on him to know that his dad was No. 1.

BUCKLEY: The son of a fallen Marine, a boy from America's heartland.

Frank Buckley, CNN, Omaha, Nebraska.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We assume that, in Iraq, there are plenty of Iraqis who are grateful to the American sacrifice. What we know for a fact, because we lived it today, is, there are plenty of Iraqi-Americans in this community who are extraordinarily grateful for what the American military has done over the last two years there, as they look to this weekend.

This special report continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Here in Dearborn, Michigan, the Iraqi elections can be as close as a neighbor, quite literally. As we said at the top, the city is home to the largest expatriate community in the United States. Getting the polls ready for Iraqi voters, though, has not been as daunting a job as in Iraq itself. It has, nevertheless, as you heard earlier, been an enormous task.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): When you get paid to run elections, it's helpful to know what you're doing.

JOHN GATTORN, IRAQ OUT-OF-COUNTRY STATE DIRECTOR: I have worked in Iraq. I worked in Iraq for six months last year. I have experience setting up elections in Kosovo and in Bosnia and in East Timor. And I have been an election monitor in nine other countries in Eastern and Central Europe.

BUCKLEY: So, when they asked John Gattorn to be in charge in his first election inside the United States, his plans were, to say the least, ambitious.

GATTORN: OK. Each one of these pods that you're in represents a polling station. There are 64 polling stations here. And each polling station can handle up to 2,000 voters, so we have a system in place that will handle over 100,000 voters, because that's what we were told the eligible voters would be.

BUCKLEY: By the time the ballots arrived, it was clear that only about one-tenth that many people would actually be voting here in Michigan, so the expectations and the logistics have been pared down.

GATTORN: The people who are coming here are of Iraqi descent, all of them, Chaldean and Muslims. About two-thirds of the community are Chaldean. One-third or less are Muslim, predominantly Shia Muslim.

BUCKLEY: The Shias, of course, are the majority inside Iraq. But the Chaldeans, Christians, are dominant here in Dearborn. And while they may be in parts of Iraq under siege, here, they are trying to work together.

IMAM HUSHAM AL HUSAINY, DIRECTOR, KARBALA ISLAMIC CENTER: It's important to us to build the bridges of a good relationship between the East and the West, between Muslim and Christian, between Iraq and America, because so many politician abuse the relationship and so many politician ruined the relationship and they burn the bridge. So we are here to build the bridge.

BUCKLEY: As for today's voting, the man in charge on the ground says, even if the turnout is lower than expected, what's important is what lies ahead.

GATTORN: But it's the first time they've ever been involved with elections, so we have to look at all the forms in every single minuscule detail to make sure everything is followed perfectly, so they learn from this experience. And the next elections coming up, maybe there will be other out-of-country voting operations. So, this is not only an election now, but a lesson learned for future elections.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: As we said, getting the polls ready here has been as nearly as daunting as getting the polls ready in Iraq, but I will tell you that security was a concern here. To get into the polling place, you had to walk through metal detectors today.

Ahead on the program, the challenges of reporting the story, not from here, but from there. A reporter's notebook is next.

This is a CNN special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Reporters have been covering elections for as long as there have been ballot boxes. In this country, for the most part, it is routine work for journalists. Not often the case in other parts of the world. Elections can be dangerous business for voters and, therefore, for reporters, Iraq the latest example.

Nothing about Iraq is routine or safe, really, as Anderson Cooper found out just trying to get into the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The flight to Baghdad starts off like any other flight. You fly high above the clouds. Endless stretches of sand far below. It's only when you're right above Baghdad, you realize, this is not a normal flight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The final part of our descent will be from overhead the airfield in a spiral fashion. It may feel a little uncomfortable on the body, but nevertheless, it's due to safety and security.

COOPER: The plane turns sharply, spiraling downward. A corkscrew to avoid taking fire. Though the insurgents know the maneuver.

Not everything goes as planned, however. Suddenly, fighter jets appear underneath. There's fighting at the airport. It's too dangerous to land.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are returning back to Amman, and we will take it from there, depending on how long the military operations will last here in Baghdad.

COOPER: The next day, another flight. The plane finally gets permission to land.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly be landing at Baghdad International Airport. Kindly return to your seats and make sure that your seat belts are securely fastened. Put your seats in the upright position.

COOPER: The road into town from Baghdad's airport is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world. You drive fast, constantly aware of people passing by, cars getting too close, buildings insurgent spotters could use to target your car. Sometimes, however, you simply get stuck.

(on camera): We're stuck in a traffic jam, it seems. It seems like a traffic jam, which is such an ordinary occurrence. All of a sudden, that's a security threat, because, you know, someone could just come up alongside the vehicle, another car could just slam right into you. You're sort of a sitting duck.

(voice-over): Election posters are all around. It's too dangerous for candidates to appear in persons.

Some days you wake and don't want to go outside. You ask yourself, Do I need to take my vest? Do I need to wear my helmet? The answer is almost always yes.

Even if you don't go out, you can't escape the violence. All day long, e-mails from Iraqis, from soldiers, from people you don't even know, a steady stream of death and progress, suicide attacks, schools built, police killed, insurgents caught, shrapnel and bullets, bombs and ballots. At times, it all seems surreal.

In the Green Zone, a young soldier drives an SUV. For a moment, the music makes it feel like home.

Hitching a ride on a chopper, you rise above the dirt and dust, fly low, shaken by the power of American might, the rotor slicing the morning air. In Iraq, Americans rule the sky. But on the streets it's another matter.

On a night patrol, an American platoon checks up on Iraqi soldiers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you guys doing?

COOPER: Riding along in a pitch-black Humvee, you can't help but admire these guys. Reporters can leave, fly home when they're done. These guys are stuck for the long haul. Night and day, day and night, they work round the clock, countless patrols, no end in sight.

Outside a polling station, an Iraqi National Guardsman masked and alone stares out into the darkness. Gunshots echo in the street. Police look like insurgents, insurgents dressed like police. The nights and days in Baghdad seem very long indeed.

Anderson Cooper, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Anderson and Christiane join us from Baghdad after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're back in Dearborn, Michigan, along with Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour, who are in Baghdad.

Guys, we have two minutes and 15 seconds. Let's see how much business we can do.

Christiane, do you feel like you know how it's going to play out on Sunday?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. And I think that we'll know only in the early hours, and it will be -- whatever happens on the ground in the early hours, it will probably dictate the pace and the momentum of the day.

COOPER: Yes.

One soldier, Aaron, said to me on patrol the other night, he said, on Sunday morning, he thinks the people in his neighborhood in his sector, the Iraqis are going to poke their head out of their homes, kind of take a reading of the temperature, the vibe on the street. And, in his words, he said, if they get a warm, fuzzy feeling, they'll come out and vote. If not, they'll stay indoors.

BROWN: I just had -- for no reason, and I'm thousands of miles away -- I have this funny feeling they're going to surprise a lot of people on Sunday.

AMANPOUR: Well, you know what? Some of the political leaders are saying that as well, particularly this very highly contested issue of whether the Sunnis are going to come out in those four very, very violent provinces.

Some people are saying that they may see a higher-than-expected turnout among Sunnis because they don't want to be left at the station when the train is on its way out into the new Iraq, so to speak. So they're hoping that more people than expected will turn out.

COOPER: And, of course, everyone ends their sentence here by saying inshallah, God willing. So inshallah, indeed.

BROWN: Yes.

All of us, Anderson, were in South Africa during that extraordinary election. And there was a balance there between fear and determination also, but it was much higher on the determination scale and a bit lower on the fear scale. I gather that, in Iraq, it's a bit different.

COOPER: Yes, absolutely.

I mean, the fear in South Africa, as I recall, wasn't nearly as omnipresent as it is here. It is palpable. And the security position is unlike anyplace I or you or Christiane probably has been before. Even in Sarajevo, during the war, you could...

AMANPOUR: Yes.

COOPER: There was a sense you could kind of spend hours walking around.

AMANPOUR: Yes. And I think it's important, while we compare, for instance, South Africa's incredible, incredible 1994 election to what's happening today, there is really no comparison. People who have been doing elections for generations say there's never been one that's taken place in this kind of atmosphere of violence and uncertainty, stealth election campaigns, political party leaders who can't even go out on the streets and do the normal get-out-the-vote...

COOPER: And, I mean, people you were interviewing...

AMANPOUR: Yes.

COOPER: A lot of female candidates didn't even want their faces shown.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

COOPER: Because they didn't want people to know who were they were. They were that scared. It's...

AMANPOUR: Male and female, yes.

BROWN: Well, you guys have been terrific. We look forward to the rest of the weekend working with you. Thanks again, Christiane and Anderson. Stay safe out there.

Still ahead from us in Dearborn tonight, high above one of the busiest corners of the world, images of Iraq meant to stop millions in their tracks.

We take a break first. From Dearborn, this is a CNN special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This weekend, Iraq will become part of the New York skyline. Magnum Photos had an idea to use Times Square as a reminder of the past and the present in a place that most certainly will bear on the future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK LUBELL, DIRECTOR, MAGNUM PHOTOS: Forty-second street and 8th Avenue, as you might know, is one of the most commercial places in New York City; 1.5 million people travel through this space per day. SmartSign Media had a billboard which allowed us to present Magnum work from Iraq.

And it's not imagery that you would normally see in this location. And we thought it was very fitting leading up to the election to show work from the last five years before we actually entered the conflict, during the conflict and up to present day.

When you are there as a photographer and you're covering it, you become part of the story itself. And I think it was Ilkka's interpretation and expression of what his experience was, which is chaos, confusion. And I think those images reflect that.

We have 105 images currently that are playing in rotation. And two photographers that were in Iraq sat down and looked at the work and edited through thousands of images and picked these images that storyboards the conflict.

Magnum photographers look for the human story. And I think this is a human conflict. And so the images reflect that, both from this side, from the funerals of servicemen, to the funerals in Iraq.

The story is about humanity. And when you see small children in Iraq swimming in a pool with destruction around it, I think it takes away all of the political involvement. It's very easy for people in their daily routine to forget about what is happening in Iraq and with our soldiers and our position in the world.

In a way, if we can be a daily reminder to people that what is happening, I think that we are doing our part on a visual front and that maybe that will inspire people to take action.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: That's our report from Dearborn. We'll see you again Sunday from New York and take a look at what it all meant.

Have a wonderful weekend. And good night for all of us.

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