Australian Iraqis have cast their ballots for Iraq's first authoritative election.
Jim Hake's Spirit of America will be heralding the democratic triumph with a conference and a running broadcast:
On January 30 we will be providing coverage of Iraq's elections at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The 2 hour event will begin at 2 PM (Eastern).The event will provide a complete picture of Iraq's elections from the point of view of the Iraqi people and expert commentators. The event will be based on reports, video and photos received from Friends of Democracy correspondents and staff in Iraq. News and information will also come into Friends of Democracy from Iraqi bloggers (using SoA's Arabic blogging tool), from the Iraqi people via email and from other local Iraq media.
This will provide a unique, ground-level view of Iraq's elections — direct from the people of Iraq.
Seven months ago, when Iraq's interim government was granted municipal power, I marked it as the beginning of the end of Near East tyranny. The progress made by men empowered by the local respect of their countrymen has been neither interrupted nor diminished. Soon men will be elected by their countrymen, chosen to draft Iraq's writ of freedom's guarantee.
The terrorists have already lost. Victory has always been the freemen's, the only uncertainty remaining in whether they impel and defend its mandate.
A victory that's already been won. It sounds so familiar.
REJOICE: Photos from Kurdistan (Hat tip, Iraq the Model.)