Iraqis begin voting in U.S.

SOUTHGATE, Mich. - Adim Altalibi struggled to hold back tears Friday after voting in an Iraqi election for the first time. All he could think about were his five nephews, all killed under Saddam Hussein's regime.

"We lost a lot of our young men and women struggling against Saddam Hussein. It's paid off now," said Altalibi, 55, an engineer who left Iraq in 1987 and cast his ballot Friday at a suburban Detroit voting site that was once a home-improvement store.

Altalibi was one of hundreds of Iraqis who streamed into polling places in five U.S. cities Friday, the first day they could vote in their homeland's election.

Nearly 26,000 people have registered to vote in five U.S. metropolitan areas with heavy Iraqi populations: Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, Tenn., Los Angeles and Washington.

Tens of thousands more are expected to vote in 13 other countries during balloting that runs through Sunday.

In Iraq and around the globe, the voting has been a cause for jubilation among Iraqis who have long been tormented by Saddam, but the threat of violence is still present.

Insurgents bent on disrupting the election process have killed U.S. soldiers - two more died Friday in Baghdad - set off suicide car bombs, assassinated officials and bombed polling places.

Isho Mishail, 40, a driving instructor who was voting at the Chicago polling place, said it is important for him to vote because he does not know if his relatives in Iraq will have the same luxury.

Insurgents "went to the houses and threatened them, 'If you go to the polls, we'll kill everyone in the house,"' Mishail said.

In the United States, organizers said lack of documentation, large travel distances, bad weather and concern about retribution could be keeping some Iraqis away from the polls. The number of people voting in the United States is expected to make up about 10 percent of the 240,000 Iraqi expatriates expected to cast ballots around the world.

To be eligible to participate, voters had to be born in Iraq or have an Iraqi father. They also had to have turned 18 by Dec. 31.

Sedeer Saba, 24, said she was excited to vote even though she was born in the United States. But she said many Iraqi-Americans feared going to the polls.

"They're afraid that their name is going to be on the ballot and that one day it will come back and haunt them, that one day Saddam Hussein will come back in power," said Saba, who was voting at the Los Angeles-area center.

But others were determined to participate. Adl Almusasarah, 30, traveled from Denver to Nashville, arriving at the polling site an hour early so he could be first in line.

"We pray for the election to go well," said Almusasarah, who has been in the United States for 12 years. "I wish well for all the parties - for all the people in Iraq."

Mona Al-Mugotir, 25, drove from Omaha, Neb., to Chicago Friday, after making two trips last week because she lost her registration card. Farooq Alshimmari, a security guard from Albuquerque, N.M., spent the last two weeks in the Detroit area so he could vote.

"Ten to 20 years from now, all the generations will remember that this is the first time we practiced our freedom of choice," said Alshimmari, 49, who worked as a history teacher and was jailed by Saddam before leaving Iraq in 1991.

Security was tight outside Detroit, the U.S. site where the most voters are expected to cast ballots.

Private security guards checked identification as people entered the parking lot and ushered visitors through metal detectors. Bomb-sniffing dogs also were at the site, where an oversized Iraqi flag hung from the rafters.

Voters are choosing parties rather than individuals, with the number of candidates seated from each party determined by the party's percentage of votes. Those elected will make up the 275-member assembly that will draft Iraq's new constitution.

Mohamad al-Ali, 69, from Fairfax Station, Va., said it was a great to be able to express his opinion and thought it would help quell the violence that has wracked his homeland.

"I hope it will change the future for our children and grandchildren to make a better Iraq, a more democratic Iraq, a tolerant Iraq and a peaceful Iraq," he said.

Associated Press writers Ben Fox in Irvine, Calif., Don Babwin in Skokie, Ill., John Gerome in Nashville, Tenn., and Stephen Manning in New Carrollton, Md., contributed to this report.