Reuters, which for anti-American bias is in a class of its own, has this lead on its main Iraqi voting story: "Millions of Iraqis turned out to vote Sunday, defying anti-U.S. insurgents determined to drown the historic poll in blood."
The U.S. has lost hundreds of men in Iraq, but Iraqis have lost thousands more. There haven't been many large-scale attacks against American forces in the last several weeks, as the thugs have been attacking policemen and innocent civilians. The thugs are trying to seize control over Iraq, or at least a big part of it, so they can continue to oppress the majority of the population, ruling through intimidation and violence. The U.S. is simply an impediment, not the main enemy. I like the acronym the military uses for the thugs: AIF, for "Anti-Iraqi Forces."
To be fair, the article itself has a jubilant tone, as Iraqis celebrate the opportunity to determine their own future. I've said before that the insurgency will end the Irish way. (No, that doesn't mean they'll fight and drink themselves to death.) After the Irish Republic gained its independence, there was a full-scale civil war, with many deaths on both sides. Finally, weary of war, the Irish public permitted its government to root out and kill the warriors. The republic has been relatively peaceful ever since.
• Perennial moron Robert Fisk calls the election a "fantasy" and a "charade." Fisk is, you'll recall, the British reporter who was beaten by an Afghan mob, then blamed the U.S. and U.K.'s attack on the peace-loving Taliban, saying if he were from Afghanistan, he would have attacked the first Westerner he saw, too. The unregenerate side of me hopes he'll have a similar encounter with Iraqi thugs. Happy reporting, Bobby! His piece is worth reading, if only to snicker at his babbling hysteria.
• Balloon Juice has a "accentuate the negative, eliminate the positive" roundup of news from Iraq.
• ScrappleFace has a feature, "Iraqi Voting Disrupts News Reports of Bombings," that sums up media coverage in four paragraphs. The opening: "News reports of terrorist bombings in Iraq were marred Sunday by shocking graphic images of Iraqi 'insurgents' voting by the millions in their first free democratic election."
BONUS SCRAPPLEFACE LINK: "Kennedy: U.S. Troops Restrict Al Qaeda Civil Rights." It brings to mind a good point: pseudo-Catholic Senators such as Ted Kennedy and John Kerry get upset when terrorists have to sit in uncomfortably cool rooms, yet they have no problem with a doctor stabbing a baby's skull and sucking out his brains.
Well said, as always.