This past weekend Iraq held its first election of the last half century. Eight million courageous citizens, 80 percent of eligible voters, bravely ventured out of their homes to cast ballots during what was promised to be a day of bloodshed. While these brave Iraqis risked life and limb to perform their civic duty, others in Iraq had a different idea as to how to perform theirs. Forty-four Iraqis lost their lives to the hands of homicide bombers and mortar attacks just for trying to vote. These so-called resistance fighters, who claim to want to free Iraq from the American occupiers, are doing nothing but prolonging their stay.

Whether anyone likes it or not, the United States invaded Iraq and deposed the tyranny. Nothing can change the fact that American servicemen found Saddam Hussein hiding in a hole and brought him to face justice. Until a new, stable government is in place, American troops are in Iraq and they are there to stay. If the insurgency really cared about sending the occupiers home and giving Iraq back to Iraqis, they would end their attacks and let democracy take its course. Unfortunately, a free Iraq is not their agenda. The terrorist thugs want Iraq to remain a tyrannical theocracy where schoolchildren are brainwashed with propaganda and women have no standing as participants in society. The terrorists’ attacks on citizens going to vote, police stations and Iraqi soldiers shows that the goal is to ensure that Iraq does not become stable, only ensuring a prolonged need for foreign troops to remain in Iraq.

But the Iraqi people have spoken, and they have said that that the terrorists, who represent a minority faction, are not winning. The 60 percent of voters who ignored calls to boycott the pools speak wonders of the victory produced by Operation Iraqi Freedom. Compare these results to our own presidential election, where the biggest danger voters faced were long lines, and only 60 percent of voters could be bothered to show up. This weekend’s election should be considered a milestone in the Bush foreign policy. The fact that the same percentage of Iraqis showed up to vote as Americans is one of the first clear signs of success in Iraq.

Since the war was officially declared completed, Bush’s opponents have been declaring that the majority of Iraqis resent America and do not want any part of the liberation. If this is case, why did so many Iraqis risk their lives to vote? The answer is because Iraqis, just like Americans, enjoy freedom and desire to run their own lives and choose their own leaders. The continued violence in Iraq is not evidence that we do not belong over there but rather evidence that we do. The fringe elements that threaten security in Iraq are not looking out for the best interests of the people and certainly do not represent it.

Victory in Iraq can now be claimed more loudly than it has ever been before. Iraq will soon have democratically elected leadership with a mandate to govern. Opponents of the United States can no longer claim that any resistance is against foreign occupiers. Every shot that is fired from this point forward is an attack on independent Iraq. If the insurgency continues once there are legitimate authorities in Iraq it will only prove that the goal is, and has been all along, to prevent the spread of democracy in the Middle East. This goal is futile, and the only results that will come from its continuation are more bloodshed and continued armor patrols down city streets.

Adam Smith ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science and economics.