[ti:Counting the Votes in Iraq Only the First Step]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS
[00:06.96]in VOA Special English.
[00:10.00]Iraqi officials
[00:12.15]are still counting votes
[00:14.44]from Sunday's elections.
[00:16.85]More than six thousand candidates
[00:19.86]competed for three hundred
[00:22.01]twenty-five seats in parliament.
[00:25.07]The State of Law coalition
[00:27.91]of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
[00:30.81]took an early lead.
[00:32.56]But full results
[00:34.42]from all eighteen provinces
[00:37.16]are not expected for days.
[00:40.15]No single group is expected
[00:42.98]to win a clear majority.
[00:45.13]Building a coalition
[00:47.28]to form a new government
[00:49.28]could take months.
[00:50.98]At least thirty-eight people
[00:53.77]were killed Sunday
[00:55.17]in a series of attacks
[00:57.38]in Baghdad.
[00:59.08]But the violence and threats
[01:01.77]by insurgents failed
[01:03.58]to stop millions
[01:04.99]of Iraqis from voting.
[01:07.13]Voter turnout was lower than
[01:10.09]in the last national elections
[01:13.02]in two thousand five
[01:14.97]-- sixty-two percent compared
[01:17.89]to seventy-six percent.
[01:19.98]But it was higher than
[01:22.39]some predictions.
[01:23.58]There have been
[01:25.52]some reports of cheating,
[01:27.18]including accusations made
[01:29.91]by the Iraqiya coalition
[01:32.18]of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
[01:35.84]At the White House,
[01:37.70]President Obama noted that
[01:39.86]Sunday's voting was only
[01:42.26]the beginning of a long process.
[01:45.47]But he said the voting
[01:47.07]made it clear, in his words,
[01:49.19]"that the future of Iraq
[01:51.59]belongs to the people of Iraq."
[01:54.41]BARACK OBAMA: "Today,
[01:55.04]in the face of violence
[01:56.04]from those who would only destroy,
[01:57.70]Iraqis took a step forward
[01:59.76]in the hard work
[02:00.67]of building up their country.
[02:02.49]The United States will continue
[02:04.26]to help them in that effort
[02:05.90]as we responsibly end this war
[02:07.46]and support the Iraqi people
[02:09.00]as they take control of their future."
[02:11.61]President Obama
[02:12.50]praised the Iraqi security forces
[02:15.49]which took the lead
[02:16.98]in providing protection for voters.
[02:20.07]The next government in Iraq
[02:23.15]will have to take full responsibility
[02:25.79]for the security of the country.
[02:27.93]Fewer than one hundred thousand
[02:31.17]American troops are in Iraq
[02:33.83]for the first time
[02:35.10]since the invasion seven
[02:37.26]years ago next week.
[02:39.40]Fifty thousand of those troops
[02:42.04]are expected to leave
[02:43.81]by the end of August.
[02:46.14]And President Obama said again that
[02:49.84]by the end of next year
[02:51.48]all American troops
[02:53.58] will be out of Iraq.
[02:56.01]That still leaves Afghanistan.
[02:58.77]On Wednesday, by a wide majority,
[03:02.30]the United States House
[03:04.09]of Representatives rejected a call
[03:06.70]for a quick withdrawal
[03:08.90]of American troops.
[03:10.39]Democrat Dennis Kucinich
[03:13.23]of Ohio offered the resolution.
[03:15.81]He said it was time for Congress
[03:18.82]to reconsider America's
[03:21.27]involvement in Afghanistan.
[03:23.42]DENNIS KUCINICH: "To reflect
[03:24.78]on our responsibility
[03:25.63]for troop casualties
[03:26.92]that are now reaching a thousand.
[03:29.02]To look at our responsibilities
[03:30.92]for the cost of the war,
[03:32.37]which approaches two hundred
[03:34.33]fifty billion dollars.
[03:35.23]Our responsibility
[03:36.68]for the civilian casualties
[03:38.87]and the human costs of the war."
[03:40.63]Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida,
[03:42.52]the top Republican on the House
[03:45.28]Committee on Foreign Affairs,
[03:47.24]opposed the resolution.
[03:49.28]She noted the recent success
[03:51.62]of an American-led
[03:53.39]offensive in Afghanistan.
[03:55.21]ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN: "Our brave men
[03:56.90]and women are making steady progress
[03:58.71]against the deadly foe
[04:00.35]and are doing so
[04:01.76]at great risk to their lives.
[04:03.80]This offensive is already
[04:05.70]producing dramatic success,
[04:07.59]including the capture
[04:09.30]of senior Taliban leaders,
[04:11.10]the routing of their forces
[04:12.74]and the stabilization of key areas."
[04:15.63]President Obama decided late
[04:17.99]last year to send
[04:19.63]additional troops to Afghanistan.
[04:21.74]But he wants to begin a withdrawal
[04:24.84]from that country in July of next year.
[04:28.37]Defense Secretary Robert Gates,
[04:30.96]in Afghanistan Wednesday,
[04:32.97]said it could begin sooner
[04:35.63]if conditions permit.
[04:37.19]And that's IN THE NEWS
[04:40.18]in VOA Special English,
[04:43.33]written by Brianna Blake.
[04:45.27]I'm Steve Ember.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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