THE IRAQ ELECTIONS

Email about the election from an Iraqi doctor now living in America: "We have always known that the media has portrayed the Iraq liberation unfairly. On Jan , 14 , 2005 I gave my presidentail talk at the Louisiana Surgical Association: "Mesopotamia: The cradle nof civilization: From Hammurabi to Saddam and beyond". I clearly illustrated not just the negative side of the war but also the positive side of Iraqi liberation. I informed my friends at the meeting that that 80-85 % of Iraqis are very grateful to this nation for terminating Saddam and for staying the course so that the Iraqi people will establish a free, Federal and pluralistic government !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am glad to see that Iraqis very bravely went to the polls to let the world know that we are indeed grateful to the Americans and the British and to show our respect for our men and women in uniform ... etc. Iraqi success will bring a significant change in the Middle East".

Is this the biggest bit of bulldust ever? "World leaders have praised the conduct of Iraq's first multi-party elections for more than 50 years. ... French President Jacques Chirac described them as a "great success for the international community". [I kind of thought it was a great success for AMERICA!].

After the election turnout ordinary Iraqis now have a victory: "The Iraqis now have their heroic story of resistance. Americans could not vote for them. We could not walk down Iraq's most dangerous highway in their place. Iraqis seized their own future. They have their narrative, their symbols, their victory..... the heroic effort of millions of Iraqis to un-pry the clenched fists of murderers is the stuff nations are built on"

We won! "The news from Iraq is spectacularly good: local authorities estimate almost 75 percent of the electorate has voted. This is a triumph for every Iraqi, for America, for the Muslim world -- indeed, for the whole world. But it is a particular victory for an exceedingly small group in Washington: those who maintained confidence in the appeal of democracy, in the commonsense and intelligence of the Iraqis, and in the correctness of the path taken by President George W. Bush to Baghdad and beyond. As stated, the group of non-Iraqis in America entitled to exult is tiny: it consists of President Bush himself, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, certain other members of the cabinet and defense establishment, and a highly exclusive media list: Bill Kristol and crew at The Weekly Standard, myself and some others writing on TCS and a handful of other publications".

Michelle Malkin summarizes: "With the exception of Sullivan, the top bloggers on the left side of the blogosphere have decided to mark this historic day by hiding under their bedcovers. As of 1:45pm EST today, Talking Points Memo is silent on the Iraqi elections. Atrios is silent on the Iraqi elections. Crooked Timber is silent on the Iraqi elections. And Daily Kos has one post today from "Armando," who sneered: "This Election is simply, in my estimation, an exercise in pretty pictures.""

Leftists: The new party of the status quo: "There was a time when liberals would cheer at the prospect of freedom and democracy in places long under the stench of oppression. Today, any attempts to right past wrongs and free men from tyranny are looked on with scorn. Yesterday's idealistic liberals are today's realists; preferring the `stability' of dictators to the spread of democracy. They are fearful of asserting themselves on the world stage without the approval of the United Nations. They refuse to judge other cultures but are quick to judge American actions as immoral".

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