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BG Carter Ham is quoted regarding elections in Northern Iraq.
Link to Full Article
By DEXTER FILKINS
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 30 - After a slow start, voters turned out in very large numbers in Baghdad today, packing polling places and creating a party atmosphere in the streets as Iraqis here and nationwide turned out to cast ballots in the country's first free elections in 50 years. [...]
In Mosul, the restive city to the north, large turnouts were reported, even in the Sunni Muslim areas. But even before 8:30 a.m., election officials were already getting reports filtering in about roadside bomb attacks, mortars and small arms fire.
"They didn't hit," Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, the American commander in Mosul, said after he arrived at the election coordination center. "But that is what we think they were trying to do."
By late afternoon, Maj. Anthony Cruz, the American liaison officer with the electoral commission in Mosul, said that there were thousands of voters appearing at each polling center "across the board."
There was some discontent among Kurds, however, because of a failure to deliver election boxes. They asked for a 24-hour extension of the election, but officials said that was not possible.