Freedom!

Yep, the Iraqis voted today, and now, the war is over. Democracy is spreading like wildfire throughout the Middle East. No need to worry anymore, and our troops...

Ah, I can't do it. I'm trying to be sarcastic but the fact is, it's actually sounding pretty good over there. I mean, 44 people died, which isn't good - but in a way, that's kind of not all that bad either. And 72% of Iraqis turned out. That's better than the turnout in the U.S.! Could it be possible that Bush is right on this one? I'll say it - I hope so. I hope that we're all wrong on this one. Wouldn't it be great if the election takes the wind out of the sails of the insurgency? Wouldn't it be great if we could start bringing our troops home?

Yes, it would. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. First of all, the Iraqis who voted have indelible ink on their fingers, so they can still be identified and targeted by insurgents. The ballots still need to be tallied, so those people could be targeted. And maybe most importantly, I don't take at face value anything our government says about anything. The 72% turnout and the 44 dead people could be false. But still! For now, things look really good. It sure would be great if we can look back on this day as the day that things started to get better. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm guardedly optimistic.