Iraqis begin historic vote despite risks

BAGHDAD — Voters trickled into polling stations under tight security today in Iraq, casting ballots and defying terrorists who promised to sabotage the country’s first free elections in a half-century.

After poll workers checked his identification, Iraqi President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer was one of the first to cast his vote at the convention center serving as election headquarters in the heavily fortified green zone.

Last night’s quiet was shattered when a terrorist’s rocket struck the U.S. Embassy , killing two Americans, as the city battened down in preparation for the vote.

The rocket hit the embassy compound, near the building itself, an embassy official said. A civilian and a U.S. Navy sailor, both assigned to the embassy, died and four Americans were injured.

“It hit near the embassy building,” embassy spokesman Bob Callahan said. “There are two dead, and four who are wounded … all Americans.” The injuries of the wounded were not life-threatening, he said.

The attack deepened fears of a terrorist blitz on election day and demonstrated their ability to strike at the heart of the interim government and American power in the green zone, a vast complex on the west bank of the Tigris River.

It also demonstrated U.S. forces’ ability to respond. The origin of the rocket was tracked and seven terrorist suspects were captured almost immediately after the attack.

Security forces yesterday closed the airport, borders and the roads to automobile traffic. Elsewhere in the country, Iraqis were celebrating in the streets, looking forward to having their voices heard after decades of dictatorship under Saddam Hussein.

Mr. al-Yawer told reporters yesterday he hoped that 50 percent or even two-thirds of Iraqis would vote, although he acknowledged that Sunni participation in the election would be low.

The vote is taking place amid a countrywide security lockdown, curfews, travel restrictions and a massive military presence. But insurgents still managed to break the quiet with prolonged gunfire and the explosions.

Baghdad’s typically traffic-clogged streets were almost abandoned yesterday, and a faint haze gave the city a pale gray tinge.

Concertina wire, with bits of plastic tangled in the lines, flanked the wide street leading to the main traffic circle in the middle-class Jadriya neighborhood, where Iraqi forces slowed traffic long enough to inspect each car.

“People are waiting with caution,” said Hanaa, an Iraqi woman in her 60s who moved in with a friend for the night in Baghdad. “The streets are almost empty. Everybody is waiting for what tomorrow will bring.”

The capital’s bridges were blocked by American soldiers, who carefully checked cars twice. A National Guardsman from Washington, D.C. — nicknamed “Porkchop” — was in charge of checking identification.

Iraqi soldiers chatted with children in the streets, and prayed in the grass next to their tanks as the afternoon drew to a close.

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