The process by which we succeed in Iraq (if we do) can be thought of as a series of events by which one party keeps faith with the others. First, we kept faith with the people of Iraq by remaining in force to rebuild the country after we toppled Saddam and carried out our search for WMD. Then, the Shiite majority kept faith by rejecting the radical elements when they rose up against the occupation. We then kept faith with the Shiites by scheduling elections and seeing them through as scheduled. And today, the Iraqi people kept faith by turning out and voting.

Further acts of faith will be required. The Shiites must now keep faith with the U.S. and the Sunnis by developing a consititutional system that respects (both on paper and in practice) Sunni interests. The Sunnis must keep faith by participating in that system. The U.S. must keep faith by continuing to provide security, train Iraqi forces, and assist with the reconstruction. Even if these things happen, the insurgency probably will not end. But Iraq will develop the institutions and the forces that should enable it to deal with the insurgency with far less help from us.

Will the parties continue to keep the faith? I don't know. But so far, every time a party has needed to rise to occasion, it has. And never more spectacularly than today.

Posted by Paul at 02:25 PM  |    |  

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/mt/mt-diespammers.cgi/9452

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Keeping the faith:

» Was the Iraq Election a success? from Pajama Hadin
Let's hear an answer from Mohammed and Omar at Iraq the Model We had all kinds of feelings in our minds while we were on our way to the ballot box except one feeling that never came to us, that was fear. We could smell pride in the atmosphere thi... [Read More]

Tracked on January 30, 2005 02:39 PM

» ELECTION REACT from Right Wingnuthouse
Words like "faith" have no meaning to people who only believe in what they can see and touch. Don't get me wrong. I am not talking about God here. I'm talking about the ability to reach outside of yourself and latch on to something that transcends th... [Read More]

Tracked on January 30, 2005 04:28 PM

» Faith and Freedom from The American Mind
Power Line's Deacon writes about how various groups must "keep the faith" for there to be a free Iraq. His... [Read More]

Tracked on January 30, 2005 08:27 PM

» Faith and Freedom from The American Mind
Power Line's Deacon writes about how various groups must "keep the faith" for there to be a free Iraq. His... [Read More]

Tracked on January 30, 2005 08:27 PM

» Congratulations Iraq! – 72 percent voter turnout from Jeff Blogworthy.com
The doom and gloomers are even gloomier tonight, for their dire predictions of a bloodbath did not come to fruition (wishful thinking, I guess). 72 percent of eligible Iraqi voters turned out despite threat of injury or death. Iraqis were dancing in the s [Read More]

Tracked on January 30, 2005 08:47 PM

» Keeping the faith from BLOG.rajanr.com
Best post so far on the Iraqi elections: The process by which we succeed in Iraq (if we do) can be thought of as a series of events by which one party keeps faith with the others. First, we kept faith... [Read More]

Tracked on January 31, 2005 02:37 AM