Iraq Votes

Voting in Iraq seems to be confounding some expert opinions according to this Associated Press story.  Shiites and Kurds and Sunnis are lining up and voting, celebrating their first opportunity to do so in 50 years.  Turnout is generally accepted as higher than expected.  Can there be a greater symbolic moment in the modern Middle East than this reality, compared to that of Saddam or Bin Laden?  Women in particular who care about the rights of their Muslim sisters should be cheered by the site of Iraqi women of all backgrounds lining up and voting, burqa or no.  Time will certainly tell, and the likely Shia rule will not be perfect, for the Iraqis or for American interests.  Maybe civil war is inevitable.  But a representative Iraqi Shia government will be an excellent counterbalance to the Iranian Shias and the Sunni remnants in Syria.  And people throughout the region might be a little less sheep-like going forward.

There is no doubt the cost has been high so far.  You can count it here.  But America's response since September 11 has been resolute in pursuing stateless terrorists and their state sponsors.  I find today's voting in Iraq and by Iraqi expatriots across the world to be a victory of American ideals stretching back to the days of Washington, Hamilton and Jefferson.  Good on the President and his advisors for staying the course.

Comments

[Velociman]

That imperialist bastid Bush let these people vote. We hates him!

[jack straw]

Americans paid a higher price to rid themselves of a bloated monarchy than the Iraqis have paid. Liberty is always worth it, althugh fewer and fewer Amercans seem to feel that way.
Women should never have been given the franchise. They will sacrifice liberty for security 80% of the time.

Just out of curiosity jack straw, if the women couldn't vote would you still call the new Iraq a democracy? I sure as hell wouldn't and if our government sent my daughter to Iraq to get killed for an election that didn't include women, the administration would need to start worrying about a retaliatory rsponce much closer to home than Al Qaeda.

I don't know what women you've been talking to lately, but none my women friends are not pussys. As opposed to a lot of never inlisted,never served couch potato hawks I see holding forth on the blog circut.

[rankin' rob]

Man. Beware the grrl power at rankinblog.