I think the coolest thing is that the phrase "We did it ourselves" is commonplace. This is the real legitimacy of the elections- their elections. The Iraqi people have every right to be proud!

They did it themselves?

Are you kidding me, hinzman?

Iraqis voted under occupation from a secret list of US-approved candidates and ONLY in those provinces under US control!

I am a huge fan of free elections, and I have fond memories of my childhood when we had them here in America. But despite the self-important crowings of the blogosphere and the conservative-controlled media, what happened in Iraq was not a free or legitimate election. It was a photo op designed to put a thin veneer of legality on the US for-profit war.

Don -

You are a cliched dope. tell me - the candidates specifically put forth by Sistani are actually Bush puppets?

Give up Don. Your ideology driven by hatred can't win.

Your ideology driven by hatred can't win

Pot kettle black, dude...

I don't really hate many people, except perhaps those that put their own political inclinations above humanism. Some reasonable people opposed the war for reasonable calculations.

You are not one of them ...

... because your sense of self-worth is more important to you than cheering on anything positive that's contrary to your initial conclusions.

We all hold dogma dear to some degree or another, tend to dimiss and embrace the things that suit us - but the will of the Iraqi people is staring you in the face and you still can't let go of your hatred of Bush, and perhaps the US.

As a result, you're marginalizing yourself into a punchline. Congrats. I actually find you amusing, Don. You are a bunny in the dustbin of history.

Bill:

Your poorly-written attempts at character assassination are a typical response to anyone who challanges the White House mythology of a free Iraq. I think you're still waiting for the rose-petals and the "they will greet us as liberators" parade that the Bush regime promised you.

Clearly, you'll will accept any small scrap of progress as proof that Dubya's fantasy is finally, at long last, coming to life.

You're always crying that the media is "biased," dude...but you see a few staged photos of ink-stained fingers (and they WERE staged phots at a handful of sites, you realize that, right?) and you buy the whole story...hook, line, and sinker.