As many of you know, I’ve been extremely critical of the conduct of the war in, and occupation of, Iraq (see here, here, and here, for example). But I do hope this election proves to be of lasting success. After all, however much we may dislike President Bush, however much we may be critical of his mismanaged war, what matters here is the well-being of the Iraqi people.
Yesterday was an incredible day in Iraq. Saddam and his barbarous regime are gone and there was — gasp! — a democratic election in the heart of the Middle East. All those voters, all those purple fingers — that means something.
But now the hard work of building a democracy, a liberal democracy, continues.
Are the Iraqis up to the task? I suspect they are.
I certainly hope so.
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I have more reaction, with some links to good posts around the blogosphere, at The Reaction. Check it out.