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"The People Have Won"

Mohammed and Omar, Iraqis, of the blog Iraq The Model, are overjoyed at the voting taking place there today.

In their own words:

"How can I describe it!? Take my eyes and look through them my friends, you have supported the day of Iraq's freedom and today, Iraqis have proven that they're not going to disappoint their country or their friends.

Is there a bigger victory than this? I believe not."

We must all remember joyous days like these, for the insurgents surely have not given up just yet. They hate freedom, they hate democracy, and they hate modernity. Some of the insurgents want to return Saddam Hussein and/or the Ba'ath Party to power; some are Islamic fundamentalist extremists (Islamofascists); some are nihilists; some are agents of neighboring countries, whose rulers fear democracy. They all hate what Iraq is becoming, a beacon of hope for the region, a free and pluralistic society, part of the community of civilized and cooperative nations.

Iraqis turned out to vote in numbers, in the face of violence, in the face of threats, perhaps larger than typical turnout rates in America.

More from Iraq The Model:

"Could any model match this one!? Could any bravery match the Iraqis'!? Let the remaining tyrants of the world learn the lesson from this day."

Powerline has some great pictures from Iraq.

Pictures like this one sum up the significance of the day:

Hope. Optimism for the future of Iraq. Liberty smashing tyranny. That little girl is a witness to history. We're all witnesses to history.

The Friends of Democracy blog interviews a member of the "Iraqi street":

"Q: Is voting a religious or a national obligation?

A: Elections are a turn towards civilization; they are the summit and the essence of democracy. They mean death to totalitarianism, dictatorship and chauvinism. They are a celebration Iraqis have yearned for, for a very long time."

President Bush congratulated the Iraqi people in a brief statement:

"The Iraqi people, themselves, made this election a resounding success. Brave patriots stepped forward as candidates. Many citizens volunteered as poll workers. More than 100,000 Iraqi security force personnel guarded polling places and conducted operations against terrorist groups. One news account told of a voter who had lost a leg in a terror attack last year, and went to the polls today, despite threats of violence. He said, 'I would have crawled here if I had to. I don't want terrorists to kill other Iraqis like they tried to kill me. Today I am voting for peace.'

Across Iraq today, men and women have taken rightful control of their country's destiny, and they have chosen a future of freedom and peace."

WILLisms.com understands elections are not an immediate panacea for the situation in Iraq, but they are a powerful indicator that Iraqis support freedom, not the insurgency. They support representative institutions, not terrorists and jihadis. Iraqis have taken an important step toward what will become an important ally of freedom in the Middle East.

Posted by Will Franklin · 30 January 2005 02:36 PM

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