Democracy in iraq is in the eye of the beholder, some see in next week's national election a gleam of salvation after years of tyranny and occupation; others perceive the sharp threat of civil war. For the al-Saadi family in Baghdad, the Jan. 30 election can't come soon enough. "I'd like to go out and vote right now," says Karim, 43, an electrical-goods salesman who supports a family of 12. His neighborhood, the hardscrabble district of Washash, home to a mainly Shi'ite population of laborers and small traders, is one of the few in Iraq's capital where a high voter turnout is predicted. His mother Sabiha has lofty hopes for what an elected Iraqi government can achieve. "It will solve all our problems" she says. "We will have electricity, my children will have jobs, and I won't have to worry about their safety when they go out."
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