By Bob Morgan, Jr. By Bob Morgan, Jr.

Suddenly, in the wake of the election in Iraq, there seems to be more than a glimmer of hope in that country.

According to current estimate, approximately 60% of registered voters participated in the election, despite a determined insurgency that killed more than 40 persons on election day. While the turnout was best among the majority Shiite community and the Kurds, even a substantial number of Sunnis also voted.

Clearly the resounding message sent by the Iraqi people in the election was a rejection of the terrorist insurgency and an acceptance of democratic principles of self government. Many Iraqis wore their finger dipped in indelible purple ink with pride and there were celebrations in the streets in some places. As noted by National Review’s Jonah Goldberg, two incidents stand out. A 32-year-old man, Samir Hassan, who lost his leg in a car bomb blast three months ago, appeared at the polls. “I would have crawled here if I had to. I don’t want terrorists to kill other Iraqis like they tried to kill me. Today I am voting for peace,” Mr. Hassan said. Second, a polling station in Baghdad reopened after a suicide bombing, with voters stepping over the corpse of the bomber.

In some sense the voting in Iraq provides, at long last, a tangible payoff for the invasion of Iraq. Pessimists have viewed Iraq as a quagmire like Vietnam, with a population, while perhaps happy to be rid of Saddam Hussein, hostile to the United States and indifferent to Western notions of freedom and a pluralistic society. Now, however, there is compelling evidence that a substantial number of Iraqis are committed to a new, more democratic Iraq. In the longer term, of course, the hope is that people in many other countries in the Middle East will take note of a successful, pluralistic Iraqi government and begin to demand change in their own lands as well.

Obviously, the successful election does not mark anything like the end of the quest to establish peace and democracy in Iraq, much less the entire Middle East. In the short term, the Iraqis, with the strong encouragement of the United States, will have to turn a democratic election into a government that Iraqis of good will regard as fair and representative. Clearly the Shiite majority will have to come to terms with the Sunnis, the longtime rulers of Iraq, and grant the Sunnis a reasonable level of participation in the new government. Also, some type of accommodation, perhaps along the lines of Canada’s arrangement with Quebec province, will have to be made with the Kurds, who have largely lived autonomously in recent years. Looking further down the road, there are obviously forces across the Middle East who will be aggressively hostile to the spread of liberal principles from Iraq.

Another danger, of course, is if Iraq ends up choosing a government, such as an Iran-style theocracy, that is hostile to the interests to the United States and not solicitous of civil liberties. While observers such as Tom Friedman of the New York Times believe this unlikely in light of Iraq nationalism and traditions, this would put the United States in a very difficult position.

But the bottom line is that despite the terrorism and violence and the considerable loss of life in Iraq, we have now come a major step closer to peace and security in the Middle East, not to mention the possible withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. It is just a step, but an important one at that.