The important thing now, for the first time in a long time they have turned to the polls and not to the guns.

Iraqi citizens are faced with a very tough position of basically having to confront their fears, ... decide for themselves whether they consider that this election is important enough ... in order to risk their lives to go and vote.

asking, begging military commanders precisely not to do that.

The result is accurate. It has been checked according to the processes that we all follow when we have elections.

The report that we have right now basically is the voting in the south is ... extremely high,

This has been a much more solid operation than the one we saw in January, ... It has been a peaceable election. Voters were much better prepared.

Enormous numbers of voters have gone to the polls peacefully.

Everything has been going well so far, with very few incidents.

There are a lot of inconsistencies and ironies in this case, that I hope that the (U.N.) administrative tribunal will appreciate. And I hope they have a sense of humor. Otherwise we will all be crying.

Overall, if you compare it to January it has been incredibly peaceful.