Yahoo! News - Iraqis Defy Threats to Vote for Assembly
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers Sunday, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they couldn't walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century.

Uncertain Sunni turnout, a string of insurgent attacks that killed 44 and the crash of a British military plane drove home that chaos in Iraq isn't over yet.

Yet the mere fact the vote went off seemed to ricochet instantly around a world hoping for Arab democracy and fearing Islamic extremism.

The feeling was sometimes festive. One election volunteer escorted a blind man back to his home after he cast his vote. A woman too frail to walk by herself arrived on a cart pushed by a young relative. Entire families showed up in their finest clothes.

But for the country's minority Sunni Arabs, who held a privileged position under Saddam Hussein, the day was not as welcome.

No more than 400 people voted in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, and in the heavily Sunni northern Baghdad neighborhood of Azamiyah, where Saddam made his last known public appearance in early April 2003, the four polling places never even opened.

The electoral commission said it believed, based on that anecdotal information, that turnout among the estimated 14 million eligible Iraqi voters appeared higher than the 57 percent that had been predicted, although it would be some time before any precise turnout figure was confirmed.

A day of victory for democracy, indeed. But do the ends justify the means? Let's total up the cost, shall we?

- up to 100,000 Iraqi's killed, the country itself in shambles, now a terrorist training ground and more of a "threat to America" than Saddam ever was.
- 1400 American troops killed, thousands more maimed for life.
- the running total adding up- $1 billion dollars a week, and still no plan to pay for all of this. If you told people that their taxes would be raised to accomplish this they would be singing a different tune, I'm sure.
- our armed forces and materials stretched thin with recruitment levels plummeting. The coalition is gone, we will be left in Iraq for years to come, on our own.
- a world that looks at America with distrust and apprehension, scuttling chances for diplomacy over violence in other areas. More people will die because of yesterday. Brutal force will be the method of "freedom."

It was great to see people lined up, happy to be voting. It really was.

But the full cost of those happy pictures is not being taken into account here. We bought those pictures at a huge price, one that I'm not so sure the American people are willing to pay. The totals aren't in yet. Get your wallets out, people. Get your sons and daughters ready to spread some more freedom. King George will be emboldened to repeat this experiment based on yesterday.

How much of this country do we want to give away in the foolish pursuit of advancing our "way of life" to those that might not even want it?