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January 31, 2005

One Small Step

It's difficult to look at the pictures of Iraqis celebrating yesterday's election without feeling a little of their happiness rub off. Yesterday was a moment that may go down in Iraqi history as their own July 4th, a day when they were able to establish a government that was truly responsible to the people of Iraq. Yesterday was one of the moments hawks like yours truly were looking forward to since we advocated the removal of Saddam Hussein. Still, today is no time for gloating. The moment's over.

Iraq still has a long and difficult road ahead of it. The new government has to take power and it has to demonstrate that it can provide for the safety of its citizens against the terrorists and insurgents who sought to disrupt yesterday's elections. The new government must also develop a permanent constitution for Iraq, one that is both flexible and robust enough to provide Iraq with a government capable of giving the people the help they need to succeed as a nation. As important as yesterday's elections were, the more important elections are yet to come. If, a year from now, Iraqis meet to hold their first elections under their new constitution, we will be able to make an argument that our war in Iraq was at least partially successful. But there's much work to be done between then and now.

This is to take nothing away from what happened yesterday. I have argued for some time that the success of this war ultimately hinges on the Iraqis themselves. If they can govern themselves, we will have succeeded. If they cannot, our efforts will have been in vain. Yesterday offers some hope that Iraqis are far more able to stand up for themselves than many in the West were willing to give them credit for. I don't know if I would have had the courage to go out and stand in line at voting booths where suicide bombers could walk up and detonate themselves among the voters, or to hold up an ink-stained finger in victory with the knowledge there were many people around me who were willing to kill me for having exercised my franchise.

We often forget that in our own history, only about one in three colonists really wanted to leave England and become our own nation. It was the passion and courage of that small band of Americans that saw us through to independence and our current system of government. Iraq seems to have a significantly higher percentage of her own population interested in taking charge of their destiny. That is a good sign for the future. Now it is incumbent on us to help them stand on their own so we can get out of their way.