The Silent Election

Perhaps they know that last Sunday there was a general election in Iraq. Its coverage in the editorial pages of the Spanish newspapers has been muted — ABC is the proud exception. With bombs, the Iraqi people came out en masse to vote. Some statistics are particularly relevant. Five years ago in Anbar, for example, only 3,375 votes were cast — 2 percent of the population. On Sunday, 61 percent voted there. As in the rest of the provinces with Sunni majorities, the polls went from being nearly empty in the first general election to being at or about half full. With two elections held with a high degree of popular support, and a democratic transparency rivaled only by Lebanon’s in the Arab world, the question is if victory can be declared, or if it is better to remain prudent.

It seems clear that prudence is always a good adviser. The eagerness of President Obama last Sunday to announce that the elections would accelerate the timetable for the return of troops seems a bit imprudent. Too much has been achieved to risk it now. The success of the surge is there for all to see. The West has in the heart of the Middle East a democracy that is defeating al-Qaida and that could be fertile ground for the creation of a new Hezbollah. With Turkey in the hands of an Islamist majority that pulls the country away from the West and with Iran in the process of getting the bomb, do we want to lose this opportunity in Iraq? It is clear that the scant echo from this election is due to the shame felt by the many people who declared that Iraq could never become a democracy; I would love to hear what Miguel Ángel Moratinos [Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs] has to say on the subject. Maybe last week, when he walked along George Bush Avenue in Tiflis, he took a moment to reflect on it. I wish.