Oh that ubiquitous purple finger! How Howard Dean and the defeatist party he leads must absolutely loathe it. When raised high in the air by smiling Iraqis following the exercise of their democratic rights as citizens, it must give the Chairman of the Democratic party and his groveling cohorts purple nightmares, a sea of fingers pointing directly at them while laughing at their timidity and faithlessness.

Be still my heart, but the Washington Post is even amazed at how quickly the Iraqis are picking up on this politics thing:

As Iraqis nationwide prepare to go to the polls for the third time this year on Dec. 15—this time for a new parliament—candidates and political parties of all stripes are embracing politics, Iraqi style, as never before and showing increasing sophistication about the electoral process, according to campaign specialists, party officials and candidates here.

“It is like night and day from 10 months ago in terms of level of participation and political awareness,” said a Canadian election specialist with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, a group affiliated with the U.S. Democratic Party that is working to ease Iraq’s transition to democracy. The institute, which has provided free campaign training to more than 100 Iraqi parties and describes its programs as nonpartisan, granted a reporter access to its employees and training sessions on the condition that no one on its staff be named.

I would say that the Iraqis are getting the hang of this election thing quite nicely. Of course, some of them have got to learn to put down the guns first:

In several cities in the Kurdish-populated north on Tuesday, demonstrators believed to be loyal to the Kurdistan Democratic Party burned down several local headquarters of a rival party, the Kurdistan Islamic Union, whose members recently withdrew from a KDP-led election coalition. Four party workers were reportedly killed in the incidents.

Because of this, several candidates and party workers said, they cannot apply much of the advice they get from foreign election workers. At one recent session, candidates were encouraged to knock on doors or approach people in restaurants or cafes to talk about issues. They were told to write letters and send them to everyone they know, outlining their platforms.

“You could get killed . . . and we don’t have mail there,” said Khalid Madhia, a Free Iraqi Gathering candidate from Fallujah. “But it is much easier this time. Before, we were running while we were hiding. We don’t have to hide anymore.”

And some of them seem to be taking things just a little too seriously:

Across town, hundreds of black-clad followers of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr—who decried balloting 10 months ago as something imposed under American occupation—beat their backs with chains and stomped across a large poster of former interim prime minister Ayad Allawi. Sadr’s political wing has joined forces with the alliance of Shiite religious parties that leads Iraq’s current government and opposes Allawi’s secular movement.

It appears that even the holier than thou al Sadr knows a good photo op when he sees it. Somehow though, I can’t see too many moonbats marching in the streets of San Francisco practicing self-flagellation for Howard and his Merry Band of Surrender Monkeys.

As the President said, progress is being made. And the remarkable way in which the Iraqi people have enthusiastically embraced not only the concept of democracy but the practice of it as well is truly inspiring. It demonstrates to all but the most willfully self deluded that there exists in the human heart – all human hearts – an overwhelming desire to live as free people. Their concept of what freedom is may be radically different than ours. But the realization that the highest and most noble aspirations in their culture and society cannot be obtained without political freedom is the first step toward justice and peace.

This is the answer to the naysayers who view the sectarian, regional, tribal, and clan differences in Iraq as an insurmountable obstacle to the democratization of that country. Yes there are enormous, almost disheartening problems that need to be overcome. But just think of where these people started.

Just three short years ago, the kind of political back and forth going on right now in Iraq was unheard of. Such contrariness would more than likely have given you a free pass to one of Saddam’s torture chambers. But to see Iraqis of all religious, political, and economic stripes carrying on a political campaign with a gusto that appears to be a combination of American style slick and Iraqi style down home country is both hugely entertaining and wonderfully inspiring. The al Sadr gambit of marching his militiamen down the street, whipping themselves with chains may strike us as ludicrous. But I’m sure that many Iraqis don’t look it like that. Whatever political message al Sadr is trying to impart is coming through loud and clear and you can be sure he wouldn’t be doing it unless he believed it would garner him a few thousand votes.

Votes, not bullets. A little more than a year ago, this same Moqtada al Sadr was shooting at our boys in Najaf. Today, Najaf is a bustling city, bursting at the seams with economic activity. President Bush yesterday:

As soon as the fighting in Najaf ended, targeted reconstruction moved forward. The Iraqi government played an active role, and so did our military commanders and diplomats and workers from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Together, they worked with Najaf’s governor and other local officials to rebuild the local police force, repair residents’ homes, refurbish schools, restore water and other essential services, reopen a soccer stadium, complete with new lights and fresh sod. Fifteen months later, new businesses and markets have opened in some of Najaf’s poorest areas, religious pilgrims are visiting the city again, construction jobs are putting local residents back to work. One of the largest projects was the rebuilding of the Najaf Teaching Hospital, which had been looted and turned into a military fortress by the militia. Thanks to the efforts by Iraqi doctors and local leaders, and with the help of American personnel, the hospital is now open and capable of serving hundreds of patients each day.

Najaf is now in the hands of elected government officials. An elected provincial council is at work—drafting plans to bring more tourism and commerce to the city. Political life has returned, and campaigns for the upcoming elections have begun, with different parties competing for the vote. The Iraqi police are now responsible for day-to-day security in Najaf. An Iraqi battalion has consumed [sic] control of the former American military base, and our forces are now about 40 minutes outside the city.

A U.S. Army sergeant explains our role this way: “We go down there if they call us. And that doesn’t happen very often. Usually, we just stay out of their way.” Residents of Najaf are also seeing visible progress—and they have no intention of returning to the days of tyranny and terror. One man from Najaf put it this way: “Three years ago we were in ruins. One year ago we were fighting in the streets … [Now] look at the people shopping and eating and not in fear.”

The President’s critics rightly demand specifics regarding progress in Iraq. This would seem to fall under the category “pretty damned specific.”

Of course, progress in Iraq will not be measured in weeks or months but years. And unfortunately for the President and the Republican party, it is unlikely that major progress will follow our American cycle of bi-annual elections which will allow the Democrats to continue to scream “quagmire” while gleefully planning to undercut any Administration claims of progress by pointing to the violence that al Zarqawi seems to be able to ratchet up and down in order to manipulate the dim-witted Dems.

Thankfully, the President seems determined to see this through regardless of the electoral consequences to his party. While there’s no doubt that he cares what happens to Republicans at the polls and will continue to do his utmost (finally) to bring home to the American people what is really going on in Iraq, he apparently is not going to bend on the larger issues of artificial timetables and drawing down our forces before the situation on the ground warrants it.

This coming election in Iraq will be one more large step down a very long road toward a peaceful and just society. The fact that all factions in Iraq seem to be participating with an enthusiasm lacking in most western countries should underscore just how precious a commodity democracy is and why it is important to embrace those who are willing to die in order to enjoy its benefits.

The Iraqis are going to give an answer to Howard Dean and the Democrats who believe the war is unwinnable next week. And it will be one great big purple finger raised in triumph – the triumph of hope over despair. They could give another finger to the Dems but, from what I’ve heard, the Iraqis are much too polite to participate in such a vulgar display.

UPDATE

John Cole has the picture and caption of the day comparing Howard Dean with al Sadr’s fanatics.