About nine million Iraqis turned out to vote on the Iraqi constitution. Larger numbers than expected of Sunnis turned out to vote in an effort to
gain more influence over the democratic process than the Shiites and Kurds. Even with the large voter turnout and the intense competition between
factions, very little violence has been reported.
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Sunni Arabs voted in surprisingly high numbers on Iraq's new constitution Saturday, many of them hoping to defeat it in an intense competition with
Shiites and Kurds over the shape of the nation's young democracy after decades of dictatorship. With little violence, turnout was more than 66 percent
in the three most crucial provinces.
The constitution still seemed likely to pass, as expected. But the large Sunni turnout made it possible that the vote would be close or even go the
other way. Washington hopes the constitution will be approved so that Iraqis can form a legitimate, representative government, tame the insurgency and
enable the 150,000 U.S. troops to begin to withdraw.
Whole families turned out at voting stations, with parents carrying young children, sometimes in holiday clothes. Men and women lined up by the
hundreds in some places or kept up a constant traffic into heavily bunkered polls, dressed in their best in suits and ties or neatly pressed veils _
or in shorts and flip-flops, weary from the day's Ramadan fast.
"I'm 75 years old. Everything is finished for me. But I'm going to vote because I want a good future for my children," Said Ahmad Fliha said after
walking up a hill with the help of a relative and a soldier to a polling site in Haditha, a western Sunni town.
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Despite the fact that we hear mostly bad news coming out of Iraq, the progress toward democracy continues. We should all feel a sense of pride that
there is even a glimmer of hope that a genuine Arab democracy will emerge in the Middle East. It has been a long hard fought battle that continues
even to this day, but I cannot help but feel optimism that freedom is infectious and will proliferate if given ample opportunity.
