With ballots from Basra and Kirkuk to as far away as Nashville being counted, the world is hailing the Iraqi elections as a success. World leaders ranging from Jacques Chirac to George Bush to Arab League Secretary Gen. Amr Moussa congratulated the eight million Iraqi people for their courage despite the relentless threats of violence from insurgents working in Iraq.

The Iraqi people should be congratulated for taking their first step toward democracy despite the seemingly overwhelming odds against them. Few, including Iraqis themselves, expected actual free and fair elections, especially given the boycott of the vast majority of Sunni Arabs. The Shi’ia majority, led by the slate Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani endorsed, may actually hold power for the first time in the history of modern Iraq.

This step toward democracy, however, is only the first step down the long road towards a free and functioning government in Iraq. Forming the National Assembly, writing a new Iraqi Constitution, and establishing control over all 18 governorates will be the true test of the Iraqi people’s desire to have a united multiethnic sovereign Iraq.

The challenge will be to form a new government and constitution that all major ethnic and religious groups — the Shi’ia Arabs, the Sunni Arabs, and the Kurds — can accept. While some smaller Sunni factions now want to be a part of the drafting of the constitution, most of the Sunnis have no desire to be a part of the new government. Four of the major Sunni governorates had a very poor turnout for the election, and the Marine Corps estimated that only 7,000 residents of Fallujah actually voted. The ethnic tensions between Kurds and Arabs in multiethnic cities such as Kirkuk are mounting. Forming a government that can satisfy all sides is a daunting if not impossible task.

While the Iraqi people have taken that first step towards democracy and reestablishing their sovereignty, the issue of American-led Coalition troop levels in Iraq has caused heated debate. Sen. Ed Kennedy stated on “Meet the Press” that he wants a firm timetable for American withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Some even want to pull all American troops out of Iraq today.

While no one wants to see more American lives lost, the United States cannot pull out of Iraq in the foreseeable future. The current amount and quality of trained Iraqi forces is not sufficient for the fledgling Iraqi government to defend itself. While the estimates vary wildly depending on the source within the Pentagon, there simply are not enough capable Iraqi forces to do the job. As insurgent groups such as al-Zarqawi’s al Qaeda-allied organizations become more sophisticated and bold, it will take even higher quality Iraqi troops to hunt down these insurgent cells. The insurgents may lose momentum in Iraq due to the elections, but the core elements of these groups may become even more hardened against the newly elected government and will become even more difficult to eliminate.

There are many factors — including ethnic tensions and rivalries, establishing security in cities, such as Mosul, and rebuilding the Iraqi economy — weighing against the new government of Iraq, even before all the ballots are tallied. Pulling American troops out of Iraq will only throw the frail emerging Iraqi government into chaos and could result in a complete breakdown of Iraq along religious and ethnic lines. No one wants to read about another American life lost in Iraq, but American troops are necessary until a sufficient number of Iraqi troops can function and replace American units on the ground.

Whether one agrees or not, the United States has liberated/occupied Iraq. Now it is up to the United States to see a new government succeed. There were eight million brave Iraqis who risked their lives to vote for their government, and the United States has an obligation to the Iraqi people to ensure that their desires are fulfilled. Until Iraq can defend itself, the United States must defend Iraq and train those Iraqis who will give the new government the ability to establish sovereignty. Only then can American troops be pulled out of Iraq.

Jeff Carnes ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in linguistics.