Remembering Iraq's Elections

Friday was the One Year Anniversary of this history-making event. From CentCom:

A year ago today was Election Day in Iraq. For the first time, millions of Iraqis had a real choice in their government, and they took advantage of it.
President Bush, visiting with Iraqis voting absentee from the United States, lauded Iraqis for “being courageous and in defying the terrorists and refusing to be cowed into not voting.” “I believe freedom is universal,” Bush said. “I believe the Iraqi citizen cares just as much about freedom and living a free life as the American citizen does.” Under Saddam Hussein, there was one choice in so-called elections: him. Now Iraqis have gone to the polls to elect 275 people, 25 percent of whom had to be women, to represent them.

The ballot for the Dec. 15, 2005, election was incredibly complicated, with hundreds of candidates running for office. Some were affiliated with nascent political parties, others ran on their own. Some parties were affiliated with a particular sect or tribe. Others cut across ethnic and religious boundaries. Election Day in Iraq was also a triumph for the Iraqi security forces. "All the time and money you have spent training the Iraqi army, you harvest it today," Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Mobdir Hatim Hothya al-Delemy told then-3rd Infantry Division Commander U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William Webster following a tour of polling places that day.

May she always remain free!