Resolve, Courage, & Sacrifice: In Iraq, Extraordinarily, the Biggest Change Since Babylon

The Richmond [VA] Richmond Times-Dispatch ^ | February 3, 2005 | Ross Mackenzie

[quidnunc]

Perhaps four words — resolve, courage, sacrifice, and extraordinary — best define the outcome of the elections in Iraq.

The resolve of President Bush and the people of the United States, the courage and sacrifice of pri- marily the American military and the Iraqi people (as well as the post-Saddam Iraqi leadership), and the extraordinary electoral results.

In the run-up to the election, many among the doubters and naysayers practically cheered for failure. They were all negativism, cynicism, and gloom. Remember? From all the predictable sectors the Old Media (which somewhere along the way redefined the terrorists as "insurgents"), Old Europe, even non-Iraqis Osama and Zarqawi — the unrelenting cries went up:

Bush is a dunce, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi a stooge. Postpone the elections. The Sunni Baathists who prospered under Saddam won't vote, the Kurds won't vote, the Shiites won't vote — nobody will vote. Terror is rampant, intimidation high. The Iraqs have no tradition of democracy, no heart for liberty. There will be a bloodbath, a civil war. The outcome will be illegitimate. The election will be "a disaster because it's a result of blunder after blunder after blunder" (Teddy Kennedy).

And: The U.S. lost the war. Elections are unadulterated idiocy. A sham election is not worth the murder, mayhem, and horror it will cause. Muslims and Arabs are unsuited for democracy. It's all America's fault: The problem in Iraq is the U.S. generally — U.S. troops in particular. Like Vietnam, Iraq's a quagmire; bring the boys home. Americans don't support the death of Americans fighting for Iraqis who won't defend themselves and don't believe in freedom … .

-snip-

[kimosabe31]

Great post.