The Vote, The Voters, The Constitution and Zarqawi's Al Qaeda

In darkness now, Baghdad and all of Iraq prepares for the night after a long day, a day in which the vast majority of those elegible to vote on an Iraqi constitution did just that. They braved threats and intimidation from Zarqawi and his band of thugs, they went out into the streets and they voted. They voted in numbers that puts the majority of the democracies to shame. It appears that something approaching, or perhaps over, 70% of the registered voters exercised their franchise. A great victory for the forces of freedom in Iraq and for the Iraqi people.

From NPR just a few hours ago:

Polls close in Iraq after millions of people cast their ballots in a vote on whether to approve their new constitution. Voting got off to a slow start in Baghdad as Iraqis waited to see if the insurgent-promised attacks would emerge. But for the most part, the day was quiet, with only scattered reports of minor attacks."

A suicide car bomb in Basra kills two people. The attack comes amid increased fighting among rival Shiite militias. Violence is spiraling in the southern city, and British and American authorities say Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah may be supplying Shiite groups in Iraq."

Indeed, Zarqawi comes out of this looking like someone not in control of all his faculties. Didn't he promise total disruption, didn't he promise to defeat the vote? Bill Roggio writing in The Fourth Rail says it as well as I've seen it anywhere:

Al Qaeda and their insurgent allies still tried to disrupt the election with violence. The following list of attacks is the extent of the terrorist's reach. Behold the might of al Qaeda and its fearsome Ramadan Offensive:

- Gunmen fired on two polling stations in Baghdad. No injuries.
- Office of the Iraqi Islamic Party is torched in Fallujah. No injuries.- Office of the Iraqi Islamic Party is struck by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. No injuries.
- Office of the Iraqi Islamic Party is destroyed in an attack in Baiji. No injuries.
- Terrorists blow up the home of the local Iraqi Islamic Party chief in Ramadi. No injuries.
- Five security guards wounded in a car bombing near a mosque in Kirkuk.
- Four civilians wounded in a roadside bombing targeting a U.S. patrol in Baghdad.
- Fifteen insurgents arrested as they prepared to attack polling centers in Mosul. No injuries.
- Power cut in 70% of Baghdad after power lines are sabotaged north of the city.
- Two police wounded in roadside bombing while patrolling near a polling station in Baghdad.
- Civilian killed by sniper fire near polling station in Baghdad.
- Three insurgents attacked an empty polling station South of Basra, and are captured. No Injuries.
- One policeman is wounded after a roadside bomb exploded near a polling station in western Baghdad.
- Fighting reported between a small band of insurgents and U.S. troops on patrol in Ramadi. No casualties reported. (NOTE: Emphasis added)

Seth at Hard Astarboard has an excellent piece (with several links well worth reading as well) on the current state of Iraq and that we and the Iraqi people are indeed "winning" though perhaps not in the eyes of the MSM. I've blogged about the "lies of omission" from the MSM before. Yet, the Iraqi people remind me of the aeronautical engineers who said that from a design standpoint, the lowly bumblebee could not fly. Someone forgot to tell the bumblebee. Likewise, those that said Arabs in the Middle East would never "take to democracy" forgot to tell the Iraqi's

Hooray for Iraq, hooray for the Iraqi people, hooray for Democracy!

Linked to Iraqi Freedom at Right On The Right and Stop the ACLU's Freedom Party & The Political Teen, as well as the Mudville Gazette