It looks like the Iraqi people pulled off a successful election, their first in fifty years. By their courage and determination, they have effectively thumbed their noses up at the insurgents and shown them (the insurgents) that they do not have the support of the people.
If history has shown us anything over the last hundred years, it’s that democracy is often born from conflict. It took two world wars to bring democracy to central Europe, a Cold War which lasted another fifty years to bring Eastern Europe out of the shadow of communism, a civil war and break-up of Yugoslavia to bring democratic principles to that formerly communist-dominated territory, and a collapse of a superpower to bring democracy to Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet territories. Democracy is still tenuous in Russia and Ukraine, but it has begun. The first President Bush said “you can’t put democracy and freedom back into a box.” He was absolutely right.
For all the problems that the U.S. invasion brought with it, one of the benefits will be that democracy will take hold in Iraq. The people want it, despite the actions of the insurgency and foreign terrorists who, despite being dealt a knockdown blow by the Iraqi people today, continue to stream into Iraq to fight the U.S. military and the new democratic government of Iraq.
It’s a great day for Iraq, and hopefully, one giant step toward bringing our troops home.
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