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Iraq Stepping up Security for Election; Iraqis Voting in U.S.

Aired January 28, 2005 - 10:59   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.


RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Going inside the insurgency. We are going to talk to someone who knows them very well. Michael Ware of "TIME" magazine, he's going to explain to us the violence in Iraq, but from a different perspective. He's had unprecedented access to the insurgents, will tell us who they are, what they're all about.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, when this man heard that his son was killed in Iraq, he set himself on fire. Now, months later, how he's dealing with his loss as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

SANCHEZ: And here we go. Here's a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."

Insurgents issue a dire warning as Iraq prepares for national elections. It's less than 48 hours away. A flyer distributed in Baghdad warns that insurgents will, we quote, "wash Baghdad streets with the blood of voters." We're going to have more in a live report from Iraq that's coming up in just a little bit.

Now, Iraqi officials say that they have nabbed three important members of the terrorist group headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. News of the arrest came just a few hours ago. The Iraqi government said one of the men was appointed by al-Zarqawi as the head of Baghdad operations. Another was also a close associate.

President Bush says that he doubts that Iraq will ask U.S. forces to leave after this Sunday's election, but he tells "The New York Times" he would pull the troops out if the new leaders asked him to. Mr. Bush says it's important for Iraqis to view U.S. troops as helpers and not occupiers.

And just more than an hour ago Condoleezza Rice was sworn in as secretary of state. She officially took office Wednesday night. This morning's event was ceremonial.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg administered the oath as President Bush looked on. It actually had already taken place earlier in the White House. Rice leaves next week for Europe and for the Middle East as well.

11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. out West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.

KAGAN: And good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We begin this hour in Iraq. The first free elections in a half century are just two days away, and we'll have extensive coverage this hour and throughout the weekend. Today's election -- today, election officials declared that all polling stations are prepared for Sunday's vote. We get an update from Baghdad.

Insurgents are using bullets and bombs, trying to keep Iraqis from casting their ballots. You'll hear from a reporter with an inside view of the insurgency.

Election day has already arrived for Iraqis living outside the country. We're going to go to a polling station right here in the U.S.

There is apprehension and anticipation in Iraq today less than 48 hours before the election. The government is stepping up security even as insurgents issue a new threat warning of more bloodshed. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour begins our coverage from Baghdad -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, indeed the intimidation continues. Today there were two car bombs this morning. One was against a police station in the southern part of the city, and four people were killed, two others were wounded, according to police officials there.

Then a couple of hours later, about 700 yards away, there was another car bomb explosion. This time, though, it was better news because it was aimed, the police think, at one of the schools that's going to be used as a polling station on Sunday, but instead it crashed into one of the concrete barriers that was protecting the area in the vicinity of that school. And then it blew up there.

So nobody was killed, just there was damage to the concrete walls. But that was an encouraging sign, particularly for those who are trying to maintain security.

Also today, as they have done over the past week, Iraqi security officials came before the press to announce that they had arrested more so-called followers or colleagues, collaborators of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi. Remember they announced last week that they had got one who was the leading bombmaker, and now they're saying that they have arrested three more.

They insist that this information is not being made public as election campaign or to sway the campaign, but, of course, people here want to know that people are being arrested. The thought that these key insurgents are out and planning to wreak havoc on Sunday is something that's causing quite a lot of fear.

There's also another level of fear and intimidation. These leaflets are being found in some Baghdad neighborhoods. One of our colleagues picked these up as he came into work today.

They're anonymous, but they call themselves a final warning for voters to stay away. They say that they have prepared bombs and mortars and car bombs and explosions for "every polling station." They tell people to stay 500 yards away, to stay away from windows, and they give -- they make, obviously, these threats.

But along with that, today we also saw in Baghdad something that we hadn't seen. That was cars of election party workers and political agents out trying to drum up enthusiasm for the vote on Sunday. And people say that they really must turn out and vote despite the fear -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Christiane, just give us the basics about how this works. There are 275 seats up for grabs. When an Iraqi steps into the polling place and places a vote, are they voting once or are they voting for all 275?

AMANPOUR: Well, there -- it's a multi-tiered election. They're voting for the 275 members of the national assembly, so that's one set of votes. Then they're voting for the provincial elections as well, that's another set of votes. And in Kurdistan, they're voting for Kurdish local elections as well.

So there are quite a lot of vote going on. But the -- the key thing that obviously everybody in the world is looking at and, frankly, most Iraqis, is the national election, because that is what is going to choose the members of the national assembly who will then write the constitution. That will be put to a referendum, and only after that, by the end of 2005, will there be another set of elections to choose a more permanent Iraqi government. So this is really a transitional phase, let's say.

KAGAN: It is the next step, and you're there covering it for us. Christiane Amanpour live from Baghdad. Thank you.

Outside of Iraq there are 14 different countries that are hold elections for Iraqis living abroad. They cover the globe from the United Arab Emirates to the United Kingdom to here in the U.S. In all 75 locations there will be polling places set up. More than a quarter million Iraqis have registered for expatriate voting.

SANCHEZ: And right here in the U.S., Iraqis are going to be voting in five different metropolitan areas. One of the places where they're going to be voting is Washington D.C.

In fact, as you can see, we're going to be covering this for you throughout the day with correspondents not only in Baghdad, here in the United States. Aaron Brown's going to be, as you saw there just moments ago, in Dearborn, Michigan.

But let's take you now to Washington D.C. That's where Andrea Koppel is following things. She is just outside a polling station following developments to see how things have been going thus far, and she fills us in right now.

Andrea, over to you.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Rick.

Polls have been open here in new Carrollton, Maryland, since 7:00 this morning. I'm standing in a parking lot where Iraqi-Americans have been pulling up all morning long, sort of in a steady trickle.

They leave their cars there, and then they come across the street here to the Ramada Inn, just across there, where they go through security before they get inside. Once inside, they have this enormous ballot that they have to work their way through, 111 entities. They have to pick one of them and then deposit it into a box.

There's quite a bit of security. They won't let obviously any cameras film that. They also put their finger in ink to make sure that there can't be any duplication of votes. You could hear there was some applause there this morning when some of the first voters made their way through.

Registration in the United States, even though there were 240,000 eligible Iraqi-Americans to vote, only 26,000 Americans -- Iraqi- Americans did actually register to vote over the last week. About 2,000 of them came here to this site in New Carrollton, Maryland, came away from as far as Pennsylvania and New York, drove in the car for hours to get here.

You can see the largest number turnout was in Detroit, close to 10,000. That's only one out of 10 eligible Iraqi-Americans in the country.

Compare that to the 280,000 Iraqi expatriates around the world who've registered to vote to date. There were over a million who could have registered. And they got about 280,000 election workers here in Maryland, which is sort of the central place here in the state, said that they were not disappointed by the turnout in the United States though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This isn't a low turnout. As I've explained, we -- we -- we took the maximum figures and laid out facilities for the absolute maximum. There's 235,000, 240,000 to vote, if they wish to take part. The -- it would have been unthinkable, as I said, to layout a process like this and find that through lack of capacity it was not able to cope with these maximum numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: So polls opened here at 7:00 in the morning. They close at 5:00 tonight. Iraqi-Americans will be able to vote here in the United States and outside of Iraq over the next three days, Rick, before votes are counted and then sent back to Iraq -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Andrea, I'm interested to know what they're telling you about how they think they will actually be able to affect change in their country with this particular vote, especially considering what's been going on with all of the insurgencies.

KOPPEL: I don't think that it's necessarily among -- at least the Iraqi-Americans I've spoken to -- such a profound analysis of the vote as much as it is very simply the first opportunity...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KOPPEL: ... that they've had to actually vote for the person or the party that they've wanted to, as opposed to 35 years under Saddam Hussein, where everybody had to vote for that leader. So it's much more of a sort of this is the first chance, let's cast our ballot, and this is the first step, as opposed to the final step.

SANCHEZ: Very good point. Thank you, Andrea, following that story for us in Washington, one of the many places where we're going to be going to correspondents throughout the day as we follow this important vote.

In fact, you can join us for a two-hour primetime event. Christiane Amanpour, Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn, Aaron Brown all hosting CNN's special report, "Iraq Votes." It gets under way at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

KAGAN: And we've been talking about the preparations for the Iraqi elections. Unfortunately, not just security and poll workers getting ready. Insurgents getting ready as well. We have a unique inside look at what the insurgency is doing in anticipation of the elections. We'll be talking with Michael Ware of "TIME" magazine.

SANCHEZ: Also, we're going to bring you up to date on when and where, what exactly are Iraqis voting for. An Iraqi ballot explainer, that's what we're going to do for you.

KAGAN: And could U.S. troops be coming home sooner than expected. President Bush, what he said about that when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

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SANCHEZ: Insurgents fighting to disrupt Sunday's elections in Iraq have kept up their attacks today, and they're warning of yet more bloodshed, as you saw in Christiane Amanpour's report with those notes and leaflets that they've been spreading in Baghdad. "TIME" magazine reporter Michael Ware has taken a rare look inside the insurgent movement. You might say he's one of the rare reporters himself who has actually been given that access. He's joining us now by phone from Baquba with some perspective on the violence and the voting.

Michael, thanks so much for being with us.

MICHAEL WARE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Rick, it's my pleasure.

SANCHEZ: Thank you. Given the fact that you're one of the few people, if I can use the term, who's actually infiltrated the insurgencies, what do we need to know about them on this, the eve of this election?

WARE: Look, one of the most important things to bear in mind is that it's a rich mix of groups and organizations who are involved in this insurgency. That means they're fighting for many different reasons with many different types of support.

So that's going to require from us a broader number of solutions, individual approaches that may have to be applied to each of these (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And we need to be aware, too, that that to some varying degree, these people still have the support of their community.

I witnessed an insurgent attack in the heart of Baghdad two days ago as women carried their children past the insurgents as they were firing their mortars. Everyone knows who they are. And as a U.S. field commander told me just last week -- he's here at the end of his year-long stint -- he says, looking at any other insurgency in the past, it tells us one thing, that we are still in the beginning of this insurgency. Insurgencies take years to overcome, and these guys show no letup in their intentions or their capability to sustain the fight.

SANCHEZ: Well, here's the money question then, given what's going to happen Sunday. Will this election break them or at least begin to hurt them in any way in your estimation?

WARE: Look, I was interviewing one of the most senior insurgent commanders that I've ever dealt with just last week. And I was asking him, as I've asked many insurgent leaders lately, about the elections.

He says politically, sure, the election can pose a threat to them. However, they don't see, and I must say, their support base does not see that any government to emerge from this election process, which they regard as flawed and as being sponsored by a foreign occupier, and therefore tainted, will produce any kind of legitimacy.

They don't see it as a threat. In fact, they said to me, "We didn't see the June 30 handover of sovereignty as a major event. We didn't see the naming before that of the governing council as a major event. We will just continue business as usual." That's their line.

SANCHEZ: So, then, given that, even post-election, if U.S. troops stay there, is this war winnable?

WARE: Well, that's a matter of great debate. And it's one that I come backwards and forwards on, both with the insurgents, with U.S. intelligence agencies, and with U.S. field commanders.

Obviously the troops here believe that this war can be won. The planners certainly do. Yet, as I said before, looking back at past insurgencies, at the end of day it's very hard to declare a winner.

Very, very few insurgencies in the past have actually been defeated. More often than not, they either succeed or they peter out, or there's some other resolution to the situation. I just don't see how we can defeat them militarily in a classic sense.

We could end up grinding away at this for years to come. I earnestly believe we need to seek other solutions. SANCHEZ: Michael Ware, "TIME" magazine, with real inside perspective on this story. We thank you, Michael, for taking time to talk us to on this very important day -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We have some new information about the Marine helicopter crash in western Iraq that took place on Wednesday. Investigators are increasingly confident the crash was an accident.

Twenty-six Marines, four crew members and a Navy medical corpsman were killed. Initial reports indicated the accident may have been weather related as the crash occurred during a sandstorm.

That same day, four other Marines were killed in action, ambushed west of Baghdad. WABC reporter Jim Dolan and photo journalist Joe Tesarro (ph) are embedded with U.S. Marines in western Iraq. They were with the convoy during the ambush. We showed that to you yesterday. And they were also there when the unit said goodbye to its brothers.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JIM DOLAN, WABC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Marine base in Haditha, they stood before the memorial for four fallen Marines. One by one they came to offer a final, a crisp salute. And they knelt and they prayed and they wept for all that was lost in the desert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world is now going to miss out on what these four Marines had to offer. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, for he who sheds his blood with me today will always be my brother.

DOLAN: The four Marines were killed in an ambush on Wednesday morning in the middle of a fierce and deafening firefight in Hachlanea (ph), a small village in western Iraq, on a mission to capture enemy insurgents. Their vehicle was struck by a rocket propelled grenade. Two died instantly, two on the way to the hospital.

(on camera): They were veteran Marines, but they were young men. Two of these men hadn't yet decided what they wanted to do with their careers, but one wanted to be a park ranger and one wanted to be a state trooper. And one of these Marines who bravely faced fire every time he left this base, was trying to get up the courage to ask his girlfriend to marry him.

They were friends, of course, but it was so much more than that. The Marines said they were honored to have served with them, honored to have known them.

(voice-over): Corporal Jonathan Bowling, Patrick, Virginia, 23 years old; Corporal Christopher Weaver, Fredericksburg, Virginia, 24 years old; Lance Corporal Karl Linn, Chesterfield, Virginia, 20 years old. The fourth Marine's family has not yet been notified.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like those that have gone before us, we that continue the mission do so with our brothers in our hearts. See you all on the beach. Semper fidelis. (END VIDEO TAPE)

KAGAN: That report from WABC's Jim Dolan.. Also photo journalist Joe Tesarro (ph). They are embedded with the U.S. Marines.

And you also heard in his report talking about a fourth Marine. Well, since Jim Dolan attended that memorial service, another Marine's family has been notified that their son, Marine Sergeant Jesse Strong (ph) of Vermont, was killed in action.

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SANCHEZ: It's official. Iraqis will vote Sunday. But for the most part, they aren't voting for a specific person, rather political parties or coalitions or groupings. It's just one quirk in this tedious roadmap to democracy.

CNN's Jonathan Mann tells us about this ballot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraqis are not used to a complex election process. And when voters head to the polls they may be a little intimidated about how they should vote and what they'll be voting on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Each citizen, once he receives this paper, he will cast his vote. He will fold his paper.

MANN: The country's Independent Election Commission has spent the last several days educating voters on some of the procedures, and they'll make ballot forms available in stores across the country on Saturday so they can view them before voting. They'll vote on two separate issues, once at the polling place. One will be electing 275- member national assembly, which will be charged with writing the country's new constitution.

111 political parties will vie for a part in the national assembly, 75 parties and nine solutions will be represented. Twenty- seven other candidates not affiliated with parties will also be listed. Voters will select just one party coalition or independent candidate.

Shiites, who make up about 60 percent of the Iraqi population, are likely to be a majority in the national assembly. Several Shiite parties have joined forces as a single electoral slate known as the United Iraqi Alliance.

About a third of the assembly seats are allotted for Kurds, Sunnis and Turkmen. However, some Sunni parties, including the Iraqi Islamic Party and the Association of Muslim Scholars, are boycotting the vote. Women will be allowed to vote in Iraq for the first time and will also be given a substantial voice in the assembly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The percentage of the women in the national assembly should not be less than 25 persons. Then the electoral law (ph) itself says that of each three candidates one should be a woman. Because of that we'll have more than 25 percent in the parliament.

MANN: Voters will be give an second ballot, where they can elect a provisional council for their specific region. Eighteen provisional councils will be formed, with most of those councils containing 41 seats. Over 9,000 candidates are vying for those provisional council seats.

In the north, Kurds will be given a third ballot to elect a parliament for their semiautonomous region. The Kurdistan alliance is likely to win an overwhelming majority in the 111-seat assembly. Each political entity will be given seats in the national assembly based on the percentage of votes they receive. Officials say the count will take some time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no chance to have real results that night, and even not the day after. Maybe we'll have a percentage saying that the results from province so and so, 30 percent or 20 percent of it is as follows, but not more than that.

MANN: So stand by for a long and quite complicated process.

Jonathan Mann, CNN Center.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Well, it seems like a complicated process, doesn't it?

KAGAN: As is figuring out the weather sometimes. Orelon Sidney is here to do that part for us.

Hi, Orelon.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: How you doing?

(WEATHER REPORT)

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Aired January 28, 2005 - 10:59   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Going inside the insurgency. We are going to talk to someone who knows them very well. Michael Ware of "TIME" magazine, he's going to explain to us the violence in Iraq, but from a different perspective. He's had unprecedented access to the insurgents, will tell us who they are, what they're all about.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, when this man heard that his son was killed in Iraq, he set himself on fire. Now, months later, how he's dealing with his loss as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

SANCHEZ: And here we go. Here's a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."

Insurgents issue a dire warning as Iraq prepares for national elections. It's less than 48 hours away. A flyer distributed in Baghdad warns that insurgents will, we quote, "wash Baghdad streets with the blood of voters." We're going to have more in a live report from Iraq that's coming up in just a little bit.

Now, Iraqi officials say that they have nabbed three important members of the terrorist group headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. News of the arrest came just a few hours ago. The Iraqi government said one of the men was appointed by al-Zarqawi as the head of Baghdad operations. Another was also a close associate.

President Bush says that he doubts that Iraq will ask U.S. forces to leave after this Sunday's election, but he tells "The New York Times" he would pull the troops out if the new leaders asked him to. Mr. Bush says it's important for Iraqis to view U.S. troops as helpers and not occupiers.

And just more than an hour ago Condoleezza Rice was sworn in as secretary of state. She officially took office Wednesday night. This morning's event was ceremonial.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg administered the oath as President Bush looked on. It actually had already taken place earlier in the White House. Rice leaves next week for Europe and for the Middle East as well.

11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. out West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.

KAGAN: And good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We begin this hour in Iraq. The first free elections in a half century are just two days away, and we'll have extensive coverage this hour and throughout the weekend. Today's election -- today, election officials declared that all polling stations are prepared for Sunday's vote. We get an update from Baghdad.

Insurgents are using bullets and bombs, trying to keep Iraqis from casting their ballots. You'll hear from a reporter with an inside view of the insurgency.

Election day has already arrived for Iraqis living outside the country. We're going to go to a polling station right here in the U.S.

There is apprehension and anticipation in Iraq today less than 48 hours before the election. The government is stepping up security even as insurgents issue a new threat warning of more bloodshed. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour begins our coverage from Baghdad -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, indeed the intimidation continues. Today there were two car bombs this morning. One was against a police station in the southern part of the city, and four people were killed, two others were wounded, according to police officials there.

Then a couple of hours later, about 700 yards away, there was another car bomb explosion. This time, though, it was better news because it was aimed, the police think, at one of the schools that's going to be used as a polling station on Sunday, but instead it crashed into one of the concrete barriers that was protecting the area in the vicinity of that school. And then it blew up there.

So nobody was killed, just there was damage to the concrete walls. But that was an encouraging sign, particularly for those who are trying to maintain security.

Also today, as they have done over the past week, Iraqi security officials came before the press to announce that they had arrested more so-called followers or colleagues, collaborators of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi. Remember they announced last week that they had got one who was the leading bombmaker, and now they're saying that they have arrested three more.

They insist that this information is not being made public as election campaign or to sway the campaign, but, of course, people here want to know that people are being arrested. The thought that these key insurgents are out and planning to wreak havoc on Sunday is something that's causing quite a lot of fear.

There's also another level of fear and intimidation. These leaflets are being found in some Baghdad neighborhoods. One of our colleagues picked these up as he came into work today.

They're anonymous, but they call themselves a final warning for voters to stay away. They say that they have prepared bombs and mortars and car bombs and explosions for "every polling station." They tell people to stay 500 yards away, to stay away from windows, and they give -- they make, obviously, these threats.

But along with that, today we also saw in Baghdad something that we hadn't seen. That was cars of election party workers and political agents out trying to drum up enthusiasm for the vote on Sunday. And people say that they really must turn out and vote despite the fear -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Christiane, just give us the basics about how this works. There are 275 seats up for grabs. When an Iraqi steps into the polling place and places a vote, are they voting once or are they voting for all 275?

AMANPOUR: Well, there -- it's a multi-tiered election. They're voting for the 275 members of the national assembly, so that's one set of votes. Then they're voting for the provincial elections as well, that's another set of votes. And in Kurdistan, they're voting for Kurdish local elections as well.

So there are quite a lot of vote going on. But the -- the key thing that obviously everybody in the world is looking at and, frankly, most Iraqis, is the national election, because that is what is going to choose the members of the national assembly who will then write the constitution. That will be put to a referendum, and only after that, by the end of 2005, will there be another set of elections to choose a more permanent Iraqi government. So this is really a transitional phase, let's say.

KAGAN: It is the next step, and you're there covering it for us. Christiane Amanpour live from Baghdad. Thank you.

Outside of Iraq there are 14 different countries that are hold elections for Iraqis living abroad. They cover the globe from the United Arab Emirates to the United Kingdom to here in the U.S. In all 75 locations there will be polling places set up. More than a quarter million Iraqis have registered for expatriate voting.

SANCHEZ: And right here in the U.S., Iraqis are going to be voting in five different metropolitan areas. One of the places where they're going to be voting is Washington D.C.

In fact, as you can see, we're going to be covering this for you throughout the day with correspondents not only in Baghdad, here in the United States. Aaron Brown's going to be, as you saw there just moments ago, in Dearborn, Michigan.

But let's take you now to Washington D.C. That's where Andrea Koppel is following things. She is just outside a polling station following developments to see how things have been going thus far, and she fills us in right now.

Andrea, over to you.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Rick.

Polls have been open here in new Carrollton, Maryland, since 7:00 this morning. I'm standing in a parking lot where Iraqi-Americans have been pulling up all morning long, sort of in a steady trickle.

They leave their cars there, and then they come across the street here to the Ramada Inn, just across there, where they go through security before they get inside. Once inside, they have this enormous ballot that they have to work their way through, 111 entities. They have to pick one of them and then deposit it into a box.

There's quite a bit of security. They won't let obviously any cameras film that. They also put their finger in ink to make sure that there can't be any duplication of votes. You could hear there was some applause there this morning when some of the first voters made their way through.

Registration in the United States, even though there were 240,000 eligible Iraqi-Americans to vote, only 26,000 Americans -- Iraqi- Americans did actually register to vote over the last week. About 2,000 of them came here to this site in New Carrollton, Maryland, came away from as far as Pennsylvania and New York, drove in the car for hours to get here.

You can see the largest number turnout was in Detroit, close to 10,000. That's only one out of 10 eligible Iraqi-Americans in the country.

Compare that to the 280,000 Iraqi expatriates around the world who've registered to vote to date. There were over a million who could have registered. And they got about 280,000 election workers here in Maryland, which is sort of the central place here in the state, said that they were not disappointed by the turnout in the United States though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This isn't a low turnout. As I've explained, we -- we -- we took the maximum figures and laid out facilities for the absolute maximum. There's 235,000, 240,000 to vote, if they wish to take part. The -- it would have been unthinkable, as I said, to layout a process like this and find that through lack of capacity it was not able to cope with these maximum numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: So polls opened here at 7:00 in the morning. They close at 5:00 tonight. Iraqi-Americans will be able to vote here in the United States and outside of Iraq over the next three days, Rick, before votes are counted and then sent back to Iraq -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Andrea, I'm interested to know what they're telling you about how they think they will actually be able to affect change in their country with this particular vote, especially considering what's been going on with all of the insurgencies.

KOPPEL: I don't think that it's necessarily among -- at least the Iraqi-Americans I've spoken to -- such a profound analysis of the vote as much as it is very simply the first opportunity...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KOPPEL: ... that they've had to actually vote for the person or the party that they've wanted to, as opposed to 35 years under Saddam Hussein, where everybody had to vote for that leader. So it's much more of a sort of this is the first chance, let's cast our ballot, and this is the first step, as opposed to the final step.

SANCHEZ: Very good point. Thank you, Andrea, following that story for us in Washington, one of the many places where we're going to be going to correspondents throughout the day as we follow this important vote.

In fact, you can join us for a two-hour primetime event. Christiane Amanpour, Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn, Aaron Brown all hosting CNN's special report, "Iraq Votes." It gets under way at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

KAGAN: And we've been talking about the preparations for the Iraqi elections. Unfortunately, not just security and poll workers getting ready. Insurgents getting ready as well. We have a unique inside look at what the insurgency is doing in anticipation of the elections. We'll be talking with Michael Ware of "TIME" magazine.

SANCHEZ: Also, we're going to bring you up to date on when and where, what exactly are Iraqis voting for. An Iraqi ballot explainer, that's what we're going to do for you.

KAGAN: And could U.S. troops be coming home sooner than expected. President Bush, what he said about that when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

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SANCHEZ: Insurgents fighting to disrupt Sunday's elections in Iraq have kept up their attacks today, and they're warning of yet more bloodshed, as you saw in Christiane Amanpour's report with those notes and leaflets that they've been spreading in Baghdad. "TIME" magazine reporter Michael Ware has taken a rare look inside the insurgent movement. You might say he's one of the rare reporters himself who has actually been given that access. He's joining us now by phone from Baquba with some perspective on the violence and the voting.

Michael, thanks so much for being with us.

MICHAEL WARE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Rick, it's my pleasure.

SANCHEZ: Thank you. Given the fact that you're one of the few people, if I can use the term, who's actually infiltrated the insurgencies, what do we need to know about them on this, the eve of this election?

WARE: Look, one of the most important things to bear in mind is that it's a rich mix of groups and organizations who are involved in this insurgency. That means they're fighting for many different reasons with many different types of support.

So that's going to require from us a broader number of solutions, individual approaches that may have to be applied to each of these (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And we need to be aware, too, that that to some varying degree, these people still have the support of their community.

I witnessed an insurgent attack in the heart of Baghdad two days ago as women carried their children past the insurgents as they were firing their mortars. Everyone knows who they are. And as a U.S. field commander told me just last week -- he's here at the end of his year-long stint -- he says, looking at any other insurgency in the past, it tells us one thing, that we are still in the beginning of this insurgency. Insurgencies take years to overcome, and these guys show no letup in their intentions or their capability to sustain the fight.

SANCHEZ: Well, here's the money question then, given what's going to happen Sunday. Will this election break them or at least begin to hurt them in any way in your estimation?

WARE: Look, I was interviewing one of the most senior insurgent commanders that I've ever dealt with just last week. And I was asking him, as I've asked many insurgent leaders lately, about the elections.

He says politically, sure, the election can pose a threat to them. However, they don't see, and I must say, their support base does not see that any government to emerge from this election process, which they regard as flawed and as being sponsored by a foreign occupier, and therefore tainted, will produce any kind of legitimacy.

They don't see it as a threat. In fact, they said to me, "We didn't see the June 30 handover of sovereignty as a major event. We didn't see the naming before that of the governing council as a major event. We will just continue business as usual." That's their line.

SANCHEZ: So, then, given that, even post-election, if U.S. troops stay there, is this war winnable?

WARE: Well, that's a matter of great debate. And it's one that I come backwards and forwards on, both with the insurgents, with U.S. intelligence agencies, and with U.S. field commanders.

Obviously the troops here believe that this war can be won. The planners certainly do. Yet, as I said before, looking back at past insurgencies, at the end of day it's very hard to declare a winner.

Very, very few insurgencies in the past have actually been defeated. More often than not, they either succeed or they peter out, or there's some other resolution to the situation. I just don't see how we can defeat them militarily in a classic sense.

We could end up grinding away at this for years to come. I earnestly believe we need to seek other solutions. SANCHEZ: Michael Ware, "TIME" magazine, with real inside perspective on this story. We thank you, Michael, for taking time to talk us to on this very important day -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We have some new information about the Marine helicopter crash in western Iraq that took place on Wednesday. Investigators are increasingly confident the crash was an accident.

Twenty-six Marines, four crew members and a Navy medical corpsman were killed. Initial reports indicated the accident may have been weather related as the crash occurred during a sandstorm.

That same day, four other Marines were killed in action, ambushed west of Baghdad. WABC reporter Jim Dolan and photo journalist Joe Tesarro (ph) are embedded with U.S. Marines in western Iraq. They were with the convoy during the ambush. We showed that to you yesterday. And they were also there when the unit said goodbye to its brothers.

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JIM DOLAN, WABC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Marine base in Haditha, they stood before the memorial for four fallen Marines. One by one they came to offer a final, a crisp salute. And they knelt and they prayed and they wept for all that was lost in the desert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world is now going to miss out on what these four Marines had to offer. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, for he who sheds his blood with me today will always be my brother.

DOLAN: The four Marines were killed in an ambush on Wednesday morning in the middle of a fierce and deafening firefight in Hachlanea (ph), a small village in western Iraq, on a mission to capture enemy insurgents. Their vehicle was struck by a rocket propelled grenade. Two died instantly, two on the way to the hospital.

(on camera): They were veteran Marines, but they were young men. Two of these men hadn't yet decided what they wanted to do with their careers, but one wanted to be a park ranger and one wanted to be a state trooper. And one of these Marines who bravely faced fire every time he left this base, was trying to get up the courage to ask his girlfriend to marry him.

They were friends, of course, but it was so much more than that. The Marines said they were honored to have served with them, honored to have known them.

(voice-over): Corporal Jonathan Bowling, Patrick, Virginia, 23 years old; Corporal Christopher Weaver, Fredericksburg, Virginia, 24 years old; Lance Corporal Karl Linn, Chesterfield, Virginia, 20 years old. The fourth Marine's family has not yet been notified.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like those that have gone before us, we that continue the mission do so with our brothers in our hearts. See you all on the beach. Semper fidelis. (END VIDEO TAPE)

KAGAN: That report from WABC's Jim Dolan.. Also photo journalist Joe Tesarro (ph). They are embedded with the U.S. Marines.

And you also heard in his report talking about a fourth Marine. Well, since Jim Dolan attended that memorial service, another Marine's family has been notified that their son, Marine Sergeant Jesse Strong (ph) of Vermont, was killed in action.

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SANCHEZ: It's official. Iraqis will vote Sunday. But for the most part, they aren't voting for a specific person, rather political parties or coalitions or groupings. It's just one quirk in this tedious roadmap to democracy.

CNN's Jonathan Mann tells us about this ballot.

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JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraqis are not used to a complex election process. And when voters head to the polls they may be a little intimidated about how they should vote and what they'll be voting on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Each citizen, once he receives this paper, he will cast his vote. He will fold his paper.

MANN: The country's Independent Election Commission has spent the last several days educating voters on some of the procedures, and they'll make ballot forms available in stores across the country on Saturday so they can view them before voting. They'll vote on two separate issues, once at the polling place. One will be electing 275- member national assembly, which will be charged with writing the country's new constitution.

111 political parties will vie for a part in the national assembly, 75 parties and nine solutions will be represented. Twenty- seven other candidates not affiliated with parties will also be listed. Voters will select just one party coalition or independent candidate.

Shiites, who make up about 60 percent of the Iraqi population, are likely to be a majority in the national assembly. Several Shiite parties have joined forces as a single electoral slate known as the United Iraqi Alliance.

About a third of the assembly seats are allotted for Kurds, Sunnis and Turkmen. However, some Sunni parties, including the Iraqi Islamic Party and the Association of Muslim Scholars, are boycotting the vote. Women will be allowed to vote in Iraq for the first time and will also be given a substantial voice in the assembly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The percentage of the women in the national assembly should not be less than 25 persons. Then the electoral law (ph) itself says that of each three candidates one should be a woman. Because of that we'll have more than 25 percent in the parliament.

MANN: Voters will be give an second ballot, where they can elect a provisional council for their specific region. Eighteen provisional councils will be formed, with most of those councils containing 41 seats. Over 9,000 candidates are vying for those provisional council seats.

In the north, Kurds will be given a third ballot to elect a parliament for their semiautonomous region. The Kurdistan alliance is likely to win an overwhelming majority in the 111-seat assembly. Each political entity will be given seats in the national assembly based on the percentage of votes they receive. Officials say the count will take some time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no chance to have real results that night, and even not the day after. Maybe we'll have a percentage saying that the results from province so and so, 30 percent or 20 percent of it is as follows, but not more than that.

MANN: So stand by for a long and quite complicated process.

Jonathan Mann, CNN Center.

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SANCHEZ: Well, it seems like a complicated process, doesn't it?

KAGAN: As is figuring out the weather sometimes. Orelon Sidney is here to do that part for us.

Hi, Orelon.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: How you doing?

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