Joy, violence and uncertainty in Iraq

Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they could not walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq’s first free election in 50 years.

“We broke a barrier of fear,” Mijm Towirish, an election official, said.