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By streiff Posted in War — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

It is 3:30pm in Baghdad and by all accounts this monumental day has passed without exceptional bloodshed.

The Armageddon vowed by Zarqawi has not materialized. Iraqis are voting in areas that are not exclusively Shi'a. Roger Simon's live blogging of the election indicates fairly heavy turn out. Ali at Free Iraq and Muhammed and Omar at Iraq the Model provide good local color. The BBC Reporter's Notebook offers good coverage from places other than the bar at the Palestine Hotel.

Undoubtedly, Zarqawi will continue, if not intensify, his war against the indigenous government. At the rate his network is being rolled up he and his successors may cease to be a factor. At a minimum the moment for his brand of nihilistic violence for the sake of violence has clearly passed.

This, however, was the easy part.

[update]
Voting In The 'Triangle Of Death'

South of Baghdad, in north Babil province - part of Iraq's "triangle of death" where the struggle with rebels has been particularly fierce - the scene that Election Day has brought to the streets is striking.

CBS News Correspondent Cami McCormick reports the steady stream of voters filling the streets in Mussyiib at first glance seems and feels very festive - like a public holiday.

Read on.

Will the Ba'athist FRE decide that it makes more sense to make peace with the new government or move the the Cote d'Azur rather than fight?

Will the new government show the magnanimity it has promised during the campaign, or will it degenerate into a food fight between petty kleptocrats and Sadrist clergy?

At this juncture we have every reason to be cautiously optimistic that the answer to both questions will be positive.

On the other hand will the American left acknowledge that the elections were legitimate?

Will they credit the Administration for having been correct in setting its course by the fixed star of democracy rather than by the passing ship of Albrightian convenience?

The answer to that is easy. < ahref=http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/2005/01/did-we-win-juan-cole-puts-up-this-post.html>Of course not.

[update]Iraq Voter Turnout Placed at 72 Percent

An Iraqi election official said Sunday that 72 percent of eligible Iraqi voters had turned out so far nationwide.

The official, Adel al-Lami of the Independent Electoral Commission, offered no overall figures of the actual number of Iraqis who have voted to back up the claim.

Al-Lami said the percentage of registered voters who had gone to the polls in some Baghdad neighborhoods was as high as 95 percent.

Iraqi officials had predicted that up to eight million of 14 million eligible voters - just over 57 percent - will turn out for Sunday's election to choose a National Assembly and governing councils in the 18 provinces.

[update]http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2005/jan/30/013002679.html>Iraqis Defy Attackers in Historic Election

Iraqis danced and clapped with joy Sunday as they voted in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched eight suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations. The attacks killed at least 36 people.

[update]Iraqis Express Pride, Hope at Election

From the early hours of Sunday morning, Iraqis stood in long lines that wrapped around street corners, defying militant threats of violence to cast their votes for the 275-member National Assembly. Dozens were killed as militants fired mortars, and in one town, a suicide bomber mingled with voters waiting outside a polling booth.

But people continued to vote undeterred