I am hearing some debate and commentary regarding the Iraqi elections by those who opposed the policy in the first place who are now downplaying the significance of the events of yesterday. As I noted yesterday: yesterday was not the pinnacle of victory in the sense that it was not the end of a very long process, or that it was a perfect process. Still, to deny the success of the day as an event is to be blinded by partisanship.

However: one can celebrate the events of yesterday and still acknowledge the difficult road ahead. Such a response is neither myopia nor triumphalism, rather it is a fair assessment. The fact of the matter is that millions of Iraqis were willing to dare danger, walk to the polls, vote and be marked in a very conspicuous way–these are remarkable facts which underscore the potential (and that word is the appropriate one) for the construction of democratic governance in Iraq.

The vote yesterday was not primarily a signal that the Iraqis want the American out–although I have encountered several arguments to that effect. Do I think that some knew that a road to the end of the occupation was the vote to move to the creation of a permanent Iraqi government? of course they did. However, the fact that the road to the end of the occupation is the construction of a stable, permanent Iraqi government is quite signigicant–and the fact that a majority of the population has agreed to use elections as the method to establish that government is rather important. Those millions could have instead chosen to support or join the insurgency–and yet they did not do so.

Those who seek to minimize the signifiance of the events of yesterday have to deal with that fact, and I do not, at this point, think that many (if any) of them are doing so.