With Delight And Fervor, Iraqis Cast Ballots

By Luke Baker - December 15, 2005 - Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - There may not be the same sense of history this time round, but the joy and determination of Iraqi voters emerging from dictatorship is still evident.

Young and old, able-bodied and infirm, they streamed to polls for the third time in 11 months on Thursday, this time to elect a four-year parliament.

While not as novel as the first post-Saddam Hussein election in January, participation was more widespread. Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the earlier poll for an interim assembly, flocked to vote this time, determined not to miss out on power again.

If the turnout noted above is true, then exceeding the already amazingly high participation of the last election will end the pretense by democrats that these Iraq elections are not legitimate. However don't expect liberal democrats to give up on their demands that we declare defeat, then cut and run, just because Iraq is succeeding. Their increasingly frenetic demands that we declare defeat are not based on a fear that we will lose this war but the opposite fear .... that we will win.

Democratic leaders believe the only way they can ensure defeat is to recreate the stupidity of Vietnam. First we must cut and run. Then liberal democrats will find a way to abandon Iraq so that Iran or some other socialist power can invade. They will then declare that this was inevitable.

Just because our policy in Iraq and the middle east is succeeding does not mean anything has changed in partisan politics. The whole partisan battle in America is about the socialist goal to subvert capitalism and replace it with socialism. That is the motivation of the leaders of the democratic party. If the long term result of their goals to weaken America on behalf of their economic agenda is nuclear bombs going off in America, well that is simply a price they feel we will have to pay to end capitalism.

Not all democrats feel that way, but the ones that do not are publicly criticized. Joe Lieberman is being attacked by his party just because he does not think we will lose in Iraq. How bizarre is that?