Naturally, lefties who are still too busy squawking "Halliburton" and "lied about weapons of mass destruction" will miss the point demonstrated by millions in the miracle of Iraq's first free election. But it was precisely for the outcome witnessed on Sunday that President Bush stuck to his Iraq policy in the face of unrelenting, virulent and often unprincipled opposition.
A free Iraq, stepping slowly, even painfully towards some form of democracy is the keystone of a policy that can bring about positive change for the entire region and foster conditions leading to our ultimate victory in the war on terror.
No amount of Democrat sponsored denial will change that.
USATODAY.com - New kind of awe in the Mideast: " Regardless of its flaws and how it came about, Iraq's first free election in half a century is a historic event. Among other things, it has given quite a boost to a liberation process underway in the greater Middle East, sending tremors through both ruled and rulers.
Strange how one day's event can touch so many, even those outside Iraq. But it did not come from nowhere. To autocratic regional despots, the rush to vote by millions of trapped, terrorized and occupied Iraqis was a closure to tired arguments. The despots have never held an honest-to-God election, and now this embarrassing model sits there, across the border, in a major Arab nation.
In one fell swoop, this upset has brought to a halt years of despots' arrogant posturing toward Iraqis or hiding of domestic shortcomings behind missteps of the Americans and Israelis in Iraq and Palestine. Iraqis today stand like a phoenix amid the rubble of mediocre governance and corrupt autocracies.
As for the ruled, what can be gleaned from a quick harvest of views are early signs of separating profound dislikes of President Bush and his Middle East policies from the man's ability to deliver to their Iraqi Arab brethren a home run on human rights. It's like damn G.W. Bush, but, with a wink, also long live G.W. Bush.
Thanks to intensive satellite coverage aimed at a television-driven culture, some 200 million Arabs watched at homes, clubs and coffee shops, aghast at how wrong they may have gotten some of the Iraq equation. American occupation or not, their Iraqi brethren left no doubt that they were thrilled. They flocked to voting stations in Basra, Mosul and Baghdad and to polling centers set up abroad for expatriate Iraqis in Syria, Jordan and Iran to choose a government.
In interview after interview, Iraqis said such things as, "It is like a wedding ... It is a great day ... This is history."
No comments:
Post a Comment