Iraqis defy terrorists, befuddle Moonbats ...

Millions of Iraqis Vote in Relative Peace

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Millions of Iraqis, from tribal sheiks to entire families with children in tow, turned out Thursday to choose a parliament in a mostly peaceful election — among the freest ever in the Arab world.

So many Sunni Arabs voted that ballots ran out in some places. The strong participation by Sunnis, the backbone of the insurgency, bolstered U.S. hopes that the election could produce a broad-based government capable of ending the daily suicide attacks and other violence that have ravaged the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Difficult times lie ahead, however. The coalition of religious Shiite parties that dominates the current government is expected to win the biggest portion of the 275 seats, but will almost certainly need to compromise with rival factions, with widely differing views, to form a government.

Up to 11 million of the nation's 15 million registered voters took part, election officials estimated, which would put overall turnout at more than 70 percent.

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Excellent coverage here and here.

And the "non-plan" reaches another milestone.

It's no secret we have been supporters of regime change in Iraq -- which could only have been accomplished via the invasion of Iraq and the arrest of Saddam -- since it became official U.S. policy in 1998.

Unlike many of our cohorts, we have never gone squishy in our support, having actually read the multifarious reports in their ENTIRETY -- not merely media excerpts -- and remain convinced that Saddam was a patron for terrorist groups and was intent on resuming WMD production at the moment the failing sanctions regime breathed its last.

We will not pretend that democracy in Iraq was the primary goal all along, for it wasn't. It could not be. While we believe that every person, as a child of God, has the inalienable right to self-determination, were that to become a casus belli our armies would never rest.

But the transformation of Iraq from a kleptocracy to a nation where the people choose their leaders is truly an amazing, possibly history-altering event. That it has been so downplayed in the US media speaks more to the nasty effects of Bush Derangement syndrome than it does to the significance of the vote.

We salute, applaud and raise our glasses to the Iraqi people who have three times this year raised their purple middle fingers to the terrorists and excercised their God-given right to self-government.

The success of the Iraq project is not ensured. That depends on the wisdom of the Iraqis.

But Thursday's elections represent the greatest blow for freedom since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. If that blow is felt in neighboring states, we may very well look back on December 15, 2005 as the day the Middle East took its first steps toward sanity.

We are proud that we were able to play a small role in the extension to 25 million people of rights we were fortunate enough to be born unto.