I wonder why the war boosters think elections are in and of themselves a reason to declare "mission accomplished" (yet again) in Iraq.
What good are elections if the violence continues? What good are they if Iraq's infrastructure is in shambles? What good are they if Iraq's economy continues to founder.
"Wait!" the triumphalists will interject, "Elections show that Iraqis want democracy, and democracy will work to reduce the violence."
Of course, lots of things were supposed to reduce the violence -- Saddam's capture, the first elections, the second election, the capture of myriad "Al Qaida number twos", the supposed training of a new Iraqi army, and so on. Forgive those of us underwhelmed by such rosy predictions. Reality has made a mockery of all previous expressions of optimism.
But I wonder, would the triumphalists still think this last round of elections was a success if it brought to power a fundamentalist Islamic party with strong ties to Iran? Because that's what appears to be happening.
Funny that -- we've expended hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives to give Iran what they most coveted -- a friendly Iraqi government.
And the wingnutosphere is celebrating.