2/02/2005

Iraqi elections in Tennessee

This passage from Mark Grimsley's irreplaceable Hard Hand of War reminded me of Sunday's elections in the Sunni Triangle:
By March 1864, for example, the town of Bolivar, Tennessee, had been under Union occupation for two full years, yet the mere threat of guerilla retaliation derailed an election called by the state's military governor, Andrew Johnson. "The people are warned by a poster from 'Willey Hags Capt of Forrests Scouts' not to hold such Election under pain of being Arrested & Carried South for trial," recorded a local planter. "[A] goodly number of Country Voters came to town to Vote, but all feared the Guerillas & no Election was held. Great God what will be the end. Law & order forbidden."
The eternal guerilla plays his predictable hand.