Election in Iraq a Huge Success!
Election workers count ballot papers for the Iraqi parliamentary elections in Mosul, Iraq on Thursday after a day of high voter turnout and relatively low violence.
The election in Iraq was a huge success. Even the mainstream press could not completely spin it negative. Look at this article from the AP:
High Sunni turnout as Iraq votes in key election
Officials extend voting, call process ‘successful’;
scattered violence reported
Updated: 2:13 p.m. ET Dec. 15, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis voted in a historic parliamentary election Thursday, with strong turnout reported in Sunni Arab areas and even a shortage of ballots in some precincts. Several explosions rocked Baghdad throughout the day, but the level of violence was low.
At this point in the article we have the traditional psychic predictions, and even a vote (all of which I have omitted.) A dozen or one hundred uneducated guesses are no better than one. However, for those of you who have been following the progress in Iraq outside of the mainstream agenda media, you will not be surprised. Last week, the format for mainstream articles was:
1) Negative doom and gloom, body counts and pessimistic predictions
2) A small reference to one or two of our victories
3) A stab at George Bush and the optimists who actually believe that our victories mean anything.
The outline for this article was:
1) Optimistic title of actual headline news
2) A summary of the news
3) Negative doom and gloom, body counts and pessimistic predictions
4) Iraqi Optimism over the headline news.
This is progress, not just in Iraq, but also in the agenda media being forced to report more factually and at least temporarily abandon their template for trying to undermine our military victories in Iraq. Read on:
‘A good day’
But violence was light overall and did not appear to discourage Iraqis, some of whom turned out wrapped in their country’s flag on a bright, sunny day, and afterward displayed a purple ink-stained index finger  a mark to guard against multiple voting. One jubilant Shiite voter in Baghdad proudly displayed all 10 of his fingers stained with ink.
“The number of people participating is very, very high and we have had very few irregularities,†U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said. “It is a good day so far, good for us, good for Iraq.â€Â
The Bush administration hopes the new parliament will include more Sunnis to help establish a government that can lure other Sunnis away from the insurgency. Such a development might make it possible for the United States and its partners to start to draw down their troops in 2006.
“The Iraqi people are showing the world that all people  of all backgrounds  want to be able to choose their own leaders and live in freedom. And we’re encouraged by what appears to be a large turnout throughout Iraq,†said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
(Photo from Comcast)
This all sounds real positive to me. We will be seeing troops come home by next Christmas, despite the attempts of our media and liberals to have them there for a longer period. How? The Conservatives have been saying, “Finish the job and be done with it.†The nearsighted liberals have been saying “pullout now.†And if we had done that, we would have been back, not just to fight Zarqawi and insurgents in Iraq, but World War Three in the Middle East, after Al Qaeda and other radical groups had moved into a destabilized Middle East and turned it into a literal abyss of terrorism.
How many American troops’ lives would that potentially have cost?
What liberals would have had the integrity to stand up and own up to it?
The answer to the first question is potentially hundreds of thousands, and to the second probably zero.
We would most likely hear a feeble excuse like, “I was against the pullout, before I was for it, but um….. Bush lied!â€Â
UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin: Iraqi Election - The Day After
Cross-posted at Rightfielder