Doug Ross @ Journal

Countdown to Elections in Iraq

In recent months, the prevailing meme promulgated by mainstream media is that of election illegitimacy in Iraq. Now that it is clear that huge numbers of Iraqis will brave the storm to cast their votes, the emerging MSM meme is danger, death and destruction.

In fact, Teddy Jo Kennedy and Musab Al-Zarqawi have, idealistically, joined hands against the rush to democracy. Following their lead, the MSM promises to highlight any election-related violence while studiously ignoring the vote itself.

Lorie Byrd points out that on Sunday, Meet the Press will spend an hour regaling its viewers with the failed campaign of John Kerry. This, on the same day that the Iraqi election takes place - a vote that may be the most historic in recent memory.

There are two sea-changes underway. First, the tide of democracy is washing over the Middle East. Second, the old-line media is doing their best to spin, ignore and disenfranchise the story. But, fortunately, the old-line media no longer controls the publishing apparatus. We do.

Daniel Henninger:

At last Friday's prayers in Diwaniyah, a preacher from the Al-Fadeela party said voting "is a national moral duty, and not doing it would waste the chance for coming generations to a better future." It is in America's national security interests to have preachers in Iraq saying this, rather than what the government holy men pray for in Iran. Absent these elections, the prayers in Diwaniyah likely would resemble those in Iran.

Walid Phares:

On the same day that Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the terrorist mastermind in Iraq, declared holy war on democracy, six principal Iraqi leaders appeared in their nation's first televised electoral debate, broadcast live throughout Iraq by Alhurra television. The contrast between naked jihadism and democracy was never clearer. As the candidates took the stage, Zarqawi's dark dispatch from the underworld, and all the hate and threats it carried, disappeared — if only for a moment — under the klieg lights...

OpinionJournal:

[Ted Kennedy stated,] "Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam... the war in Iraq has become a war on the American occupation." This, on the eve of an election in which millions of Iraqis will risk their lives to create a new self-governing country... He also called for a precipitous American pullout that coincides with the wishes of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, among others who are assassinating Iraqi democrats...

Lorie at PoliPundit:

This Sunday (that is Sunday, January 30th) the entire hour of Meet the Press will consist of an interview with failed Presidential candidate John Kerry. January 30? Hmm. It just seems like there was something going on that day. Why does that date seem significant to me? Must not be anything too important going on that day or you would think that Meet The Press would not be spending an entire hour on the discussion of a failed Presidential bid.

W. Thomas Smith, Jr.:

[According to Capt. David Nevers,] more often than not, Iraqi civilians — men, women, and children — are reporting suspicious activities that are either filling holes in previously gathered intelligence or providing new information which is then acted upon by U.S. and Iraqi troops. A new phenomenon, he says, is the increasing number of Iraqis who are publicly defying the insurgents. "There was a report January 21 on the Iraqi TV channel, Al-Sharqiya, which featured local Iraqis being asked about the upcoming elections," says Nevers. "Locals interviewed in northern Babil Province not only were shrugging off the insurgent-driven fear and intimidation, they threatened to kill any insurgents attempting to interfere with their ability to vote. Polls have shown consistently for months that upwards of 80 percent of Iraqis intend to vote."

Jayson at PoliPundit:

“If [the Japanese] do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.” – President Harry S. Truman, August 1945. On the other hand, there’s this: “The U.S. military presence [in Iraq] has become part of the problem, not part of the solution.” – Senator “Whiskey” Ted Kennedy, January 2005.