Iraqis change their minds; Israeli Iraqis ineligible to vote

Apparently this is a little too much, too fast for Iraq. -EoZ

While Iraq is making provision for Iraqi exiles in more than 14 countries to vote in the Jan. 30 election, some 90,000 Jews who fled Iraq for Israel will be excluded from participating.

That's the word from Iraqi officials who say the exclusion is due to the fact that the newly liberated nation still does not recognize the Jewish state.

The government said yesterday allowing Israelis of Iraqi origin to participate in the country's elections under the Out of Country Voting program was 'out of question.'

Even if Iraqi Jews living in Israel wanted to travel to a voting center in Amman, Jordan, they would be prohibited from casting ballots.