Sunday, January 30, 2005

Iraqi Elections

Anybody who has been reading this blog will notice that I've said nary a word about the elections in Iraq. There didn't seem to be much point. There was so much being written about this vote when there was in reality very little to say.

Election day has come and gone. Now there is something to say.

Good for the Iraqis.

It seems pretty clear that the vote in Iraq was at least a qualified success. (Read AP story here. Reuters here.) Given the circumstances that's all it needed to be. People who are hell bent on making Iraq a failure will continue to wring their hands and wail about Arab Sunni participation, no matter what level they actually voted at. But at this point, such complainers are merely making themselves irrelevant. The reality on the ground is that this election has started a democratic process will have a good (maybe not great) level of legitimacy.

The hope now is that this process will generate some momentum and a more stable democratic Iraq will take root. Iraq has its chance. Good luck to them.

And for all of those who deep down want the Iraqis to fail and fall into bloody civil war so that you can turn to President Bush and the Republicans and scream "I told you so!", all I have to say is, what the hell is wrong with you?

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