The Day After

"Yesterday was a great day to be an American, and an even better day to be an Iraqi." That's James Taranto's one-line summary of Sunday's Iraqi vote, and I can't say it better than that. According to The National Review:

The Iraqi people Sunday stuck a finger in the eye of the country's vicious insurgency and its former jackbooted rulers. The finger, of course, was stained in the purple ink that marked participation in Iraq's first meaningful election in 50 years.

Iraqi blogger Omar, at Iraq the Model, described his first experience with democracy:

I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.

I put the paper in the box and with it, there were tears that I couldn't hold; I was trembling with joy and I felt like I wanted to hug the box but the supervisor smiled at me and said "brother, would you please move ahead, the people are waiting for their turn".

The only possible improvement on the sentiment would have Dame Shirley Bassey belting out a revised version of her 1964 hit in the background, this time called "Blue Finger."


Sons of Iraq (click to enlarge)


Showing off to Fox News (click to enlarge)


Rose of Baghdad, who says "YES, YES, I did it. I have the courage to do it." (click to enlarge)

The Iraqis indeed showed great courage. Which is more than can be said for leftists, especially in America. It's impossible to escape the conclusion that liberals wanted the Iraqi elections to fail. Senator Kopechne (D-Mass), of course, said America was not winning in Iraq only last week--insultingly bad timing according to Jonah Goldberg. John Kerry qualified every sentence with a bushel of "buts." And even a day later, the left remains churlishly silent. One gets the feeling they would oppose sunshine if President Bush praised the light. Even the Arab press was more positive than most Democrats or European media. And the New York Times gets a special dis-honorable mention for steadily increasing the gloom dripping from their coverage during the day--the paper surreptitiously and incrementally flushed Iraqi joy down the memory hole.

Fortunately, James Lileks preserved that joy in amber:

I’m just glad I’m stupid enough to be hopeful. I’m glad I’m naive enough to suspect Iraqis actually wanted to vote. I’m very glad I’m not so aslosh with solipsistic hatred that any success in Iraq makes me trot out a cynical riposte so the rest of my buddies on Olympus will nod in wry assent. I’m glad that a picture of a mother holding her daughter to cast the ballot reminds me that this is number two in a series. All other things aside – which is a difficult thing to posit, I know – I’m glad to be on the side of holding elections. In the end I’m glad to be glad. And now I will go skip through the daisies and sing happy songs about bunnies, because I am obviously a fool. What was the cover story of the Village Voice I saw in the library today? “Bush’s plan to destroy the world.” Destroy it some more, George.

Cartoonist Chris Muir also "got it":


Day-By-Day January 30th (click to enlarge)

And the election's outcome already is clear:

The world won't know for a week or longer which candidates won yesterday's historic Iraq elections, but we already know the losers: The insurgents. The millions of Iraqis who defied threats and suicide bombers to cast a ballot yesterday showed once and for all that the killers do not represent some broad "nationalist" resistance. . .

Now that Iraqis have voted, the new line among American critics of the Iraq war is that "elections are not democracy." Well, elections may not be sufficient for democracy but they are necessary. Everyone knows that struggle and compromises lie ahead if the new Iraq is going to succeed. But yesterday's demonstration of courage and hope by millions of Iraqis belies those cynics who say Arabs and Muslims don't want democracy.

The Iraqi people agree, says Mohammed at Iraq the Model:

What happened yesterday was an extremely significant turning point that will leave its marks on the future of the region.

The world stood astounded at the sight of the masses that challenged death yesterday to plant the seed of hope in those boxes and now the enemies of the change cannot deny all that; the people have said their word clear and loud in their purple finger revolution.

Why was the world surprised? And what were the motivations of the people who have never experienced democracy before?

There were so many misconceptions about Iraq and these were the reasons why viewers from outside as well as many Iraqis were surprised. In the past few months, the media have played a big role in reflecting a blurred image about the will and preparations of Iraqis to hold the elections, not to mention exaggerating the size of the "militant groups" and their capabilities.

And Chrenkoff's round-up of Iraq news appropriately reflects the tremendous progress to date.

Still, expect leftist carping to continue, both whining about the turn-out (whatever the percentage) and "goal-post shifting," already spotted by John Cole and Iraqi legal advisor Ryan. And everyone knows why liberals will take that line: because the gratitude of ordinary Iraqis and the pictures of polling place lines were made possible by President Bush's commitment to spreading democracy:

Sunday was . . . a day of vindication for President Bush. How many times now has he been told by the press, the Europeans, and other doubters that something can't be done, and simply forged ahead and done it? His determination to see the election through in the teeth of calls for its delay, and his faith that Iraqis would make a strong civic statement in favor of a better Iraq, were both shown to be courageous and far-sighted.

Indeed, yesterdays vote burnished Bush's policies, according to the new mayor of Baghdad, sworn in hours after terrorists assassinated his predecessor:

[H]e is not worried about his ties to Washington. In fact, he'd like to erect a monument to honor President Bush in the middle of the city.

"We will build a statue for Bush," said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. "He is the symbol of freedom."

Such altruistic American ideals are exactly what drive today's stay-at-home Democrats crazy.

To hell with the naysayers. Let freedom ring. In America as well as Arabia.

More:

According to Dan Darling at Winds of Change:

Zarqawi suffered an unqualified defeat today - one that he is not likely to soon recover from. Not only did he fail at his purported desire to derail the Iraqi vote, but he was unable to carry out anything resembling the kind of operations that his group has mounted in the past in either the Kurdish or the Shi'ite areas of the country. This was literally his "make or break" moment in the eyes of the al-Qaeda leadership and goes to show just how limited the insurgency is to a single geographic area of the country.

Darling's four word summary: "Zarqawi Gambled - and Lost."