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VOTE IN IRAQ: Thousands of miles away, Michigan could be pivotal  view story
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
NIRAJ WARIKOO - - Detroit Free Press
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Inside his Dearborn mosque, the Muslim cleric clutches a copy of a faxed fatwa from the leading cleric of his native land.
"All Iraqis, men and women, who are eligible to vote must register," read Sheikh Husham Al-Husainy, translating a religious edict in Arabic written by the Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most senior Shi'ite cleric in Iraq. "Notice he's saying, 'must.' "
Indeed, for as many as 150,000 Iraqis in the United States, including 80,000 in Michigan by one estimate, voting in their motherland's upcoming elections is as serious as religion. For decades, they've waited for a chance to elect their own leaders. And now, from Dearborn to West Bloomfield, Michiganders of Iraqi descent are mobilizing to get out the vote.
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