Say Anything Blog

[...] Even the insurgents are getting into the act, encouraging their people to vote in the polls and take part in the government rather than resist democracy. [...]

[...] Democracy Arsenal sums up the stakes going into the Iraqi elections...We all know this week’s elections for a permanent Iraqi parliament are important, but what tea leaves are worth focusing on to determine whether this will be a watershed for democracy, another halting and ambivalent step in Iraq’s tortured transition, or the beginning of the end of Iraq as a unitary state. They also provide 10 things to watch. As has often been said, democracy is a process, not an election. (and it’s much more than simply elections, too) The questions will not be entirely answered by Thursday’s elections, but we’ll be able to see some trends. In the meantime, here are a few good signs...Insurgents gradually joining the political process… [via Say Anything]Saddam Hussein loyalists who violently opposed January elections have made an about-face as Thursday’s polls near, urging fellow Sunni Arabs to vote and warning al Qaeda militants not to attack.In a move unthinkable in the bloody run-up to the last election, guerrillas in the western insurgent heartland of Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.Nobody expects the Sunnis to give up their own ambitions. But the difference between pursuing their goals with violence and pursuing their goals within the political process is the difference between civil war and democracy. ABC News/Time Magazine poll: “On the Eve of the Elections, Most Iraqis Want Iraq To Stay Unified” [via Captain’s Quarters]Surprising levels of optimism prevail in Iraq with living conditions improved, security more a national worry than a local one, and expectations for the future high. But views of the country’s situation overall are far less positive, and there are vast differences in views among Iraqi groups — a study in contrasts between increasingly disaffected Sunni areas and vastly more positive Shiite and Kurdish provinces.Additional results of the poll: [...]

[...] Yet throughout all of that the President has remained true to his objectives in Iraq, and we have attained a good number of those goals. Iraq has a democratically elected government that is the result of three successful elections. The Iraqi insurgent groups are beginning to put down their guns and join in the newly founded political process in that country. [...]

[...] Then the elections happened. The Iraqi insurgent groups we’ve been fighting engaged in the political process and protected polling places. Iraqis cast their ballots and celebrated. It became clear that once the training of Iraqi security forces is completed and the nation can defend itself against enemies foreign and domestic our troops will be coming home. [...]