Just Give 'em da Finger!

Remember Walter Cronkite's television series, 'And You Were There' or something like that. It was an historical look at certain events developed to take the viewer back in time to be a part of events considered of historical importance. Ever wonder yourself about going back in time desiring to see real time events that reshaped this planet. The Crucifixion; the Fall of Rome; Waterloo; the American Revolution; the American Civil War; the end of WWII; the fall of the Berlin Wall are such events.

And so was yesterday's Iraq election.

I guess when it happens, the impact is not fully realized until years later. And so it will be with Iraq. Historians will look back and see Sunni and Shia Arabs and Kurds voting to restore a country to a hopeful peaceful state; a country marked by tyranny and oppression, and now there are women walking around with a mark on their fingers to show that they voted. Muslim women voting? Yes, an historical event. Men and women of Iraq stepped forward under the threat of death to place a vote in the hopes that their children will grow up in a much different world. A world without Saddam's and Osama's. The Iraqi people realize that there is strength through numbers and they will not be turned away from a chance to restore what belongs to the people and not to terrorists, thugs, and tyrants. Iraq belongs to the people. Yes, life now will be hard. The fight is only beginning. There will be times that it seems there will never be peace. But the people have spoken.

The voter turnout percentage in the Iraqi election was higher than the United States' election. People with nothing but fear marched in Iraq to the polls to cast their votes for the destiny of their children, and their children's children. The voted when their lives were at stake; the U.S. electorate votes on a Tuesday, a day just like any day. A day with jobs, newspapers, latte's, football discussions, school work and thoughts of Thanksgiving. In Iraq they voted with threats of death, wonder about what tomorrow will bring, and whether Iraq has a tomorrow. They voted knowing the whole Arab world is watching, and they voted wondering if this democracy thing will work despite a country stuck between three very dangerous regimes: Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. They voted knowing someday the Americans will leave and they will have to enforce security on their own. They voted despite the Mayor of Baghdad getting assassinated for supporting President George W. Bush. They voted knowing the new mayor of Baghdad now wants to erect a statue of...President George W. Bush. They voted not only in Iraq, but in Jordan, Iran, Australia, and the United States. They voted, and then they danced. They voted because this will change the future of, not only Iraq, but the world. And this vote will be remembered, just like we remember the Berlin Wall, Armistice Day, Appomattox, and July Fourth.

Yes, they voted. And they got a mark on their fingers saying to all of the world, and to the terrorists too, that they voted, and that Iraq is free. They cast their vote for the future and gave the terrorists the finger.

And you were there.

///JW Sends