Saturday's provincial elections in Iraq were a great triumph for democracy worldwide and especially for the Iraqi people. William Shawcross has written an excellent column on the subject in The Guardian.
For the first time in Iraq's democratic history, Iraqis handled security themselves -- a remarkable accomplishment.
When considering the courage this took, and the guts of the millions of Iraqis who turned out to vote, I am reminded of two stories. Each was told to me by a U.S. service member returning from Iraq. During 2006, at a dinner held by the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen's Club, a Manhattan-based nonprofit that gives soldiers on leave a place to stay in New York, I met a soldier named Alex, who had lost one of his legs to an improvised explosive device (IED). I spoke with him about his experiences in Iraq, including his dealings with the Iraqi people. I asked if, in his impression, Iraqis seemed to actually desire democracy.
He told me about a day he had witnessed a suicide bombing attack. He was stationed near a line of young Iraqis who were applying to join the Iraqi Security Forces. The bomber detonated, murdering and wounding many of the young men in line. In the aftermath, Alex told me, as witnesses tried to deal with the carnage, many of the young men who had been spared, trembling but resolute, got back into line.
Another soldier, whose name is Taylor and who serves as a combat cameraman in the U.S. Marine Corps, told me of a firefight he had filmed. His fellow Marines were fighting insurgents from a rooftop on a very cold day. They were shooting and dodging bullets, when the man whose house's roof they were fighting from climbed up holding a tea service and brought each Marine a cup of hot tea.
These are only two true stories. But they echo what I have heard from liberal politicians, including Parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi, head of the Iraqi Nation Party, and Hajim al-Hasani, former speaker of the Iraqi Parliament. They have said that, while extremists grab headlines, the quiet majority in Iraq want peace and democracy.
Today is not a day for recriminations. But it is worth remembering that, in the dark days of what now appears to have been largely Iranian-sponsored sectarian violence as well as violence directed against U.S. and Coalition troops, those clamoring for a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would have abandoned to the worst elements the millions of Iraqis who turned out to vote Saturday and clearly do want democracy.
No decent person wants or romanticizes war. But what many Americans failed, and still fail, to recognize is that the role of U.S. service members in Iraq has long ceased to be war and has become attempting to secure the peace, protect civilians, and instruct Iraqi troops on how to do so after U.S. and Coalition Forces leave.
Honors today to courageous Iraqis who are standing up for their freedom. And deepest gratitude to our troops for helping them to do so.