Inspiration in Iraq

Even after endless speculation about this past weekend's Iraqi elections, it seems people were not prepared for what took place. Despite a determined resistance that included 9 suicide bombers, the elections were an overwhelming sucess--surprising most everyone. Beyond that, the elections managed to produce an outbreak of beautiful and inspiring scenes across the country as Iraqis braved the circumstances together to vote; bringing children, walking great distances (use of vehicles was banned for the day), waiting in lines, and finally displaying their ink-dyed fingers with great pride. Field reports described joyous impromptu gatherings that took place outside polling places after voting had taken place. Iraqis were first tense and brave, then giddy and social. Even with the loss of 35 precious lives, the general feeling was apparently one huge sigh of relief, and thousands of triumphant smiles.

As much as we love to undercut the lofty rhetoric of our President with our smart cynicism, his inaugural rang awfully true over the past few days in Iraq. Any person who has perused the pictoral slide shows at the Washington Post or New York Times cannot help but have their heart warmed by the glorious images of active democracy unfolding on new ground. It is not about anyone or anything being proven right or wrong. It is about the tentatively hopeful start of a process that surely will mean something better for these people than what once was. The Shi'ite majority in Iraq, once brutally oppressed by Saddam's regime, is now able to flourish, in spite of the ongoing rash of violence eminating from the Sunni region. None should be surprised that parts of the powerful Sunni minority have not taken well to being displaced from their stranglehold on the country's power. But neither, perhaps, should we have been surprised by the courageous trust and optimism displayed over the weekend by the Kurdish and Shi'ite majority. It is my prayer that their hope may be honored by what unfolds in the months and years ahead.

Their resolve and good spirit has allowed me to be hopeful again. Hopeful that as we finish building roads, schools, and hospitals we might leave the country in a better state than it was when we entered. Hopeful that we might successfully train an Iraqi police force sufficient to protect Democracy, by the people, on behalf of the people, in a dangerous and tenuous region. Hopeful that in 15 years we will have successfully and truly transferred the fate of Iraq from the whims of a corrupt tyrant to the common will of its people; and that we might then be able to survey the country of Iraq and know that all who have died in this terribly frustrating war on its behalf have contributed to an enterprise that accomplished something truly noble.