And here we have all the happy voters. The purple fingers, for those of you who have been boycotting World Event Awareness over the past couple years, are significant because the Iraqis vote by dipping their fingers in purple ink and then marking their vote with said ink.

(Important side note: Some of the children you'll see have ink on their fingers. This does NOT mean that they voted -- voting age in Iraq is 18. But the kids like the ink, so if they accompany their parents to the polls, some of them get it on their fingers, too.)

This procession of people was in an area with a fairly large voting turnout. The entire group of them was dancing and chanting and waving flags as they made their way to the polls. The kids joined in, and it was one of the most inspiring sights I have seen here yet.
I took some short video of it, but can't upload that right now. I'll let you know when I have a link for it, because it is something that EVERYONE needs to see.

Speaking of the kids ... well, I just wanted to take them all home with me. They all called me "Mista" (gender, schmender -- the important thing was: did I have candy? Yes, I did. Luckily.) and they were total camera-whores. Therefore, the pictures of children are plentiful. I have much more to say about them but not enough time to say it, so I'll let the images speak for themselves, for now.

They wanted to take a picture with me. The little boy asked me this by saying in perfect English: "Me [pointing at himself], you [pointing at me], her [pointing at baby]," and then miming the picture-taking act while making a little "click" sound. How could I refuse?
Afterward, he said, "You give me chocolata?" and I had none. Sob.

Gets to do this: