From the Editorial Page of the Washington Post:
FOR MONTHS news from Iraq has told the story of the extremists, those who destroy themselves to murder others and to proclaim the cause of a religious or Baathist dictatorship. Yesterday the world saw and heard, at last, another Iraq, one in which millions of people from all over the country turned out to vote — even in places where their nominal leaders had proclaimed a boycott, even at polling stations where mortar rounds fell or gunfire rang out. Some danced or distributed chocolates, some wept with joy, others grimly pressed forward as if their lives literally depended on it. A 32-year-old man who lost his leg in a suicide bombing arrived at the polls in Baghdad and told a Reuters reporter, "I would have crawled here if I had to." There were nine suicide bombings, and at least 44 people died, including one U.S. soldier. But the day’s message was unmistakable: The majority of Iraqis support the emerging democratic order in their country, and many are willing to risk their lives for it.
For the Washington Post to have anything even relatively up-beat about the War in Iraq is simply asstounding. And well they should. This is the first step towards Democracy. We must give the Iraqi’s our support, not condemnation and harsh rhetoric. Heck, I will be the first to admit that I expected much worse violence then what occured Sunday. Kudo’s to all involved for what turned out to be a relatively non violent day.
One man called the terrorists rude:
"I would have been happy to have died voting at the time of this explosion, because this is terrorism mixed with rudeness," said Saif Aldin Jarah, 61, a balding man with white hair who leaned on his daughter, Shyamaa, as he shuffled into the afternoon sunlight after casting his ballot.
"When terrorism becomes aimless and without a goal, it becomes rudeness," Jarah said, holding aloft a finger stained purple with indelible ink. "How could they force people not to vote?"
Terrorists use terror to try and force people to do what they want. The Iraqi people took a giant step to just say "NO!" to the ability of the terrorists to modify their behavior. And, when something like this happens, how can anyone believe that the terrorists are anything but evil?
Iraq’s interior minister said Monday that insurgents used a handicapped child as one of the suicide bombers who launched attacks on election day.
Falah al-Naqib told reporters in Baghdad that 38 attacks were carried out on polling stations in Iraq on Sunday and that one of the suicide bombings was carried out by a disabled child.
"A handicapped child was used to carry out a suicide attack on a polling site," al-Naqib said. "This is an indication of what horrific actions they are carrying out."
That’s what kind of people they are.
