Iraq the Vote

Today's the day.

Iraqis are casting votes today, the first free elections in fifty years. Now I'm not a big W fan, but you have to admit, that's pretty cool.

Already the insurgents are setting off bombs, mortars, etc. Seems most of them are Sunni muslims, who have been in charge--viciously--for some time now. The Shiite majority is expected to turn out in record numbers for the vote. A photo posted on the Friends of Democracy website shows an expatriate Iraqi who voted in Michigan. He's in tears because his son, who was killed by the Baathists, did not live to vote himself. Powerful.

Kathleen Parker's column in the Sentinel today is interesting. She likens all the insurgency to the weirdness in this country when minority groups pressed the voting issue after the Civil Rights Amendment passed. I hadn't thought of it that way, but she has a point. People in power often get nervous and irrational when their power is threatened, especially when their power is threatened by a group the people in power have been suppressing, without repercussion, for some time.

Since baby bro is over there in the line of fire, I pray is that all of the ruckus is worth it.