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February 01, 2005
Iraqi Elections
Speaking of the Iraqis, huzzah for them! Sunday we witnessed an enormous collective act of courage.
In the immediate wake of Sunday's events, there were already sniping comments from various quarters: "this doesn't prove anything"; "the country is still a mess"; "this won't in and of itself end the insurgency"; etc.
Ok, fine: but there are never any guarantees in life.
After seven decades of succesful elections, domestic peace (at least no serious failure of internal cohesion), fairly continuous prosperity, etc. the US found itself in its darkest hour: the American Civil War. The point where all of this could have failed.
And America may yet face darker times. So too Iraq. It is too soon to declare Iraq safe, secure and democratically stable. But it is also too soon to concede any of those dreams. And Sunday's vote was a crucial step in all of the right directions.
By any reasonable estimation, Sunday was a huge triumph.
Posted by dag at February 1, 2005 06:04 PM