Democracy in a Moslem country? Pigs will fly first.

I think they will be executed so badly that not only is civil a possibility in Iraq, but it will slow the overall growth of democracy in other countries.

I believe through these elections, the transition of the constitutional assembly and its dissolution, the tradition of peaceful democractic institutions can take hold in Iraq. I believe this will give much leverage to the United States with Syria and Iran- but most importantly down the road Saudi Arabia. This road will be long and arduous but it needs to be travelled. ********UPDATE, Iraqi's have already formuated and interim government, are currently debated the formulation of a new binding constitution, of which they have agreed to about 70% of the issues at hand. They have currently sent the constitution to regional leaders for assistance on the other 30%. Regional quarrels over natural resources in the Kurdish areas, regional languages and centralized power are huge sticking points. But how different is this from our founding? Issues over cotton, timber, and other resources were a huge sticking point at our founding. Centralized power concerns forced the addition of the Bill Of Rights though Federalist argued it was redundant. Issues of religion played a huge part with some states insisting they retain the right to establish their own state religions not the federal government. The fact that they are dialoguing as opposed to assassinating, warring and undercutting the process is amazing in and of itself. Those of every ethnic background are being consulted. How many women or blacks were consulted at our founding? How many non-land owners? Are things perfect? Of course not! But if we continue to stay the course Iraqi's are showing the natural ability to succeed if we give them the chance.

I believe that we ought to encourage any movement towards greater freedoms not only in the Middle East, but throughout the world. That is the idea that America was founded upon. However democracy is more than simply holding an election, or forcing certain ideals on a group of people, which history has shown is a rather self-defeating process that many times leads to exactly the outcome that is not desired. Concerning Iraq, I hope that the current nascent democratic and constitutional movements can continue to grow and won't be destroyed by intense factional strife. Freedom in these parts will come when tribalism begins to wane and fighters put down their arms to join the political community. In other words, a civil society needs to be established. To an extent, this is the case with Afghanistan as well. It would take a large paradigm shift to accomplish this not only in Iraq but throughout the region. Of course, such movements can only be brought about by the individual volition of the people living in these nations. We can encourage these movements, something which we do not have a history of doing in the region. There are risks inherent, especially with regards to extremist movements gaining a foothold, but it may reap some benefits that will be important for us in the future. In fact, some Gulf states like the UAE realize this and have began taking steps towards opening up their nation politically as a means of neutralizing extremist movements on their home turf. However forcing this shift isn't our responsibility and can indeed backfire if we're not careful. That is just the first step. After legitimacy is established, you need to ensure that minorities are well represented and have power; a solid civil service is needed as well. Political and economic stability need to be ensured as well; this means that excessive populism and dogmatism should not dominate the political discourse; although religious parties should have a say in government, just to maintain balance, a necessary ingredient for stability. This will ensure that democracy grows not only in Iraq, but in other regions as well. The means of how to accomplish this goal should be reserved for another comment.

Not only is the jury still out on this one, it hasn't even been selected yet. It's way too early to tell. First of all, democracy (or what we style as democracy in our own image) has to take root in Iraq, then it has to serve as a model or be exported to the rest of the Middle East. There is an awful long history of tribalism, factionalism, and clan politics that just won't go away overnight. We have to realize that the members of the electorate in Iraq, and elsewhere in that part of the world, are themselves loyal to one faction or clan or another, so to some extent the democracy will mirror the major tribal or ethnic blocs in the country (i.e., looks like the Shiites will hold poer in Iraq, displacing the minority Sunni who had ruled by raw power under Saddam, a Sunni). We'll probably slap a happy face on things and call the new government democratic if they align themselves to some extent with us (at least for a respectable period of time), don't become a religious Islamic country, and don't kill too many of their oppoents.

You've got to be kidding me. . .you believe in the tooth fairy if you believe this.

Nope. Sure, people voted but that doesn't mean that they truly want a democratic government. A democracy goes against almost everything believed by the muslims in the Koran. We may not understand why these people wouldn't want our reality of freedom but undertanding and respecting other people's cultures isn't exactly our strong suit.

Absolutely not. For centuries there are many mid-East countries that have never experienced democracy. ... Don't expect any drastic changes soon in the mid-East. It'll take milleniums for that to happen.

Absolutely.

Democracy is an awesome prescence to a country-- symbolizing freedom in every way imaginable through speech and behavior. If a group of Europeans can battle the odds to create a Democratic society in a foreign land, so can a people of a traditionally immoral nation, as those in the Middle East. These people can have the right to do things as they please, speak what they want, and learn what they want. With these elections, that thought is made more probable, and I think democracy can occur.

When people walk over 4 hours to vote, that shows that democracy is wonderous in the eyes in the liberated Iraqi citizens! Police officers were dancing arm-and-arm in the street and one voter whipped out his registration card, proclaiming, This is MY bullet to strike the terrorists with. Hey, the mayor of Baghdad is even considering erecting a statue of George W. Bush!! :) Democracy and freedom are on the march and cannot be stopped!!!

BETTER HOPE SO????? ASK KOREA, CHINA, RUSSIA, IRAN, FRANCE.....

Too early, way too early to tell at this point. The reaction by Iraqis to have their taste of democracy goes to show how oppressed they had been for years by Hussein.

i highly doubt it.

They certainly will do this, in spite of the courageous, anti-democracy propaganda efforts of the US press and nearly all American liberals. Point out a liberal, besides Senator Joe Lieberman, who has verbally and unabashedly supported President Bush in this effort. Just one.