Election Day

I'm filled with mixed feelings about the Elections in Iraq, but not mixed desires. I hope that the election is a success (certainly it looks good based on what has been reported so far). But, while part of me is heartened by what happened yesterday, another part of me is concerned that this may be just the an up day in a much larger catastrophe.

Still is there is to be any hope at all, it is in what happened yesterday.

The New York Times also reviewed the election, saying;

Yet today, along with other Americans, whether supporters or critics of the war, we rejoice in a heartening advance by the Iraqi people. For now at least, the multiple political failures that marked the run-up to the voting stand eclipsed by a remarkably successful election day.

But once the votes are fully counted and the new governing and constitution-writing bodies begin their work, those errors, particularly the needless estrangement of mainstream Sunni Arabs and their political leaders, must be urgently addressed. In the longer run, this election can only be counted as a success if it helps lead to a unified Iraq that avoids civil war and attracts a broad enough range of Iraqis to defend itself against its enemies without requiring long-term and substantial American military help.

That day has now become easier to envision. But it still appears very far off.

We'll just have to hope. Oh, and keep the fire on the Bush Administration so they don't get any bright ideas about going somewhere else in the region.