Iraq, being a modern democratic society, held a referendum today on whether or not to keep Saddam Hussein for another 7 years. It turns out he won, with 100 percent of the votes.

Of course, "Saddam was the only candidate in the referendum."

"...all 11,445,638 Iraqis eligible to vote had done so and every single one of them answered "Yes"..." - obviously they were not using polling equipment borrowed from the state of Florida.

Some spokesman pointed out that since Iraq is outraged at Bush's threats "the turnout and percentage even higher than the last vote, in 1995, when Saddam received a 99.96 "yes" vote."

In case you were doubting the results of this election, the spokesman says "This result is real, whether some like it or not". He went on to say "We don't have opposition in Iraq." Hmm...maybe that's the problem?

But seriously, doesn't Iraq have one of those high powered, well connected public relations agencies in Washington D.C.? If so, how could they condone such an ill conceived announcement such as this one? Iraq looks like some backwards, unsophisticated nation run by a bunch of yahoos. Sometimes looks are NOT deceiving.