Iraq

Well, after the elections this past weekend, its clear iraq is on the right track. The constitution is almost assured of passing after looking at the initial numbers. The turnout was overwhelming. 77% in fallujah(which just a year ago was a haven for terrorists), 78% in Kirkuk, 64% in basra, and the rest of the cities/regions all report at least 54% turnout. All of these areas except for anbar (where fallujah is (97% no, because this area is dominated by sunnis)) voted overwhelmingly in favor of the constitution (97% yes in basra, 70% yes in diyala, 95% yes in karbala, 63% yes in kirkuk, 78% yes in ninevah, 90% yes in Thi-Qar, 95% yes in wassit). Now, honestly, to me it didnt really matter which way the vote went (of course it was best that is passes), but I think the overall success here is in the shear numbers of people who voted. When you really think about it, that is quite amazing. Lets not underestimate what these people are risking by voting. They are going to polling stations surrounded by iraqis and americans (mostly iraqis this vote) with automatic weapons, they are under the constant threat of being killed by a terrorist, then they have to dip their finger in ink, showing they voted, which they could be killed for. Let's face it people, this is nothing short of amazing. I wonder how many US citizens would turn out to vote if these were the circumstances. I'm thinking around 5%. So, for people to say iraq is a failure is obviously misleading because clearly the iraqis wanted to be free. Now, we can debate all day whether or not the US should have gone into iraq, but clearly no one can deny the fact that the people are happy to have a democracy, and happy saddam is gone. Of course, you wont hear any of the blog world talking about this success, but thats just because they dont have anything negative to say about what happened this past weekend in iraq.