Editorial: Reasons for hope

OPINION: Iraq has come through its second election since the 2003 American-led invasion relatively unscathed, at least by the standards of that blighted nation.

The poll went off with supposedly minimal bloodshed – a few dozen dead, a scattering of mortar, rocket and bomb attacks by insurgents trying to disrupt voting – and the turnout was better than 50 per cent. It may not look like much of a cause for celebration to Western eyes; nevertheless, every vote cast this week should be seen as another flicker of hope.

Harsh realities abound, of course. The poll relied on an enormous security operation at a huge cost. Baghdad in particular is still routinely exposed to bloody attacks by insurgents. The recent history of sectarian violence lingers malevolently. The political system is riven with corruption. The election is likely to deliver a far from clear-cut result. The formation of a new government is expected to be fraught. Suspicions about the United States' continuing influence on the process remain strong.

Some will even consider any talk of optimism as propaganda, an attempt to dress up the slim gains from seven years of a dreadful war. But that would under-estimate the past week's en masse demonstration of the simple power of suffrage, which will be poison to the haters within Iraq who would return the country to chaos and carnage.

It is easy to find reasons to remain cynical about Iraq's future. But increasingly, it makes more sense to be hopeful.

- © Fairfax NZ News