Congratulations to the people of Iraq, who held an historic vote yesterday. Regardless of the wisdom of our choice to invade the country, we can all be happy to see the first steps toward what hopefully becomes a functioning democracy, complete with campaign-finance laws and gerrymandering. I can't imagine what it must feel like to go to a polling place and cast a meaningful ballot after a lifetime of dictatorship, but I imagine it must be a remarkable feeling. Seems like the vote went fairly smoothly, at least by local standards, although there were some unfortunate incidents. Even the Aljazeera account was largely indistinguishable from those in the Western press, except for these short paragraphs near the end:
After casting his vote in the western city of Ramadi, 21-year-old Jamal Mahmoud said: "I'm delighted to be voting for the first time because this election will lead to the American occupation forces leaving Ramadi and Iraq," echoing a belief common among voters across the war-torn country. In the holy city of Najaf, stronghold of the ruling Shia Islamist Alliance's list No. 555, 40-year-old Abdullah Abdulzahra said: "I'll vote for 555 because they'll kill all Baathists."
I think that Ann Coulter might have a future in Iraqi punditry. The best news is that the Sunnis turned out in large numbers, indicating a willingness to join the new government as full participants. How smoothly that will go remains to be seen; some prognostications at Crooked Timber by Kieran Healy and Daniel Davies. Regardless, an historic occasion, hopefully the first of many in the region.
