October 17, 2005

Iraqi Constitutional Vote: Good News or Bad?

Sometimes it's how you look at things...and sometimes it depends on who's doing the looking.

The Washington Post says the recent adoption of the Iraqi draft constitution is not a victory, but only the latest in a long road ahead for Iraq:

For the Bush administration, the apparent approval of Iraq's constitution is less of a victory than yet another chance to possibly fashion a political solution that does not result in the bloody division of Iraq.

Could we be any more negative? They're lamenting the fact that Sunnis, by and large, rejected the draft.

Of course there is the chance that all of the fighting and sacrifice will end up being for naught. No matter what one undertakes, there is always the chance for failure. But the Washington Post (and many other MSM outlets) like to take the "glass half full" approach when it comes to anything positive coming out of Iraq because failure would be a black mark on Bush and his administration. The fact that the Iraqi people have more at stake here doesn't seem to enter their estimations whatsoever.

Rich Galen has a different outlook:

The good news isn't that the Constitution will be approved. That has been a more-or-less foregone conclusion for a while. The real news is that the Sunnis came out big numbers in their provinces in an attempt to defeat it.

Well, see, in the elections last January the Sunnis boycotted the process hoping that world opinion would conclude that without their participation the elections would be illegitimate.

In the event, about 60% of the total population went to the polls, which was - to put it mildly - a pleasant surprise. The Sunnis, for the price of it, got 17 seats in the Parliament rather than the 50-or-so which their 20% of the population would have indicated.

This time they urged their people to go to the polls and vote "No." Just like we do.

I guarantee you that the last time a bond issue in your town -- whatever town you are in and whatever the bond issue was for -- was on the ballot there was some group urging people to go to the polls to defeat it.

In California, urging voters to turn out to defeat some ballot issue or another has become a multi-million dollar business.

So, the Sunnis, who have controlled Iraq for lo these many years, have decided to use the ballot box to make their point. Just like George W. Bush told us would happen.

In other words, the democratic process is beginning to work in Iraq. As in all elections, the winning majority will exult in its success, while the losing minority goes into a corner to lick its wounds and plan for the next time. The Democratic Party in this country has been licking its wounds for some time now, and their cheerleaders, the MSM, has also tasted the bitterness of this particular brand of defeat.

Perhaps their outlook on Iraq isn't so surprising after all.

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