DEMOCRACY IN PROGRESS

Iraq's New Cabinet Sworn In

From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Shiite Arab leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari was sworn in as prime minister on Tuesday as Iraq's first democratically elected government took office.

One by one, al-Jaafari and members of his Cabinet walked up to a podium and pledged to defend Iraq and its people. But a number of ministries — including the key defense and oil industries — remained in temporary hands as bickering persisted over how to include members of the Sunni minority.

A total of seven Cabinet positions were still undecided when the ceremony began while elsewhere, insurgents and coalition forces battled in Ramadi, leaving at least 15 Iraqis dead.

...The approval of a partial Cabinet on Thursday that largely shut out Sunnis was followed by a torrent of violence, including insurgent attacks that have killed more than 168 people.

...Insurgents also attacked coalition forces Tuesday in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, setting off a battle that killed 12 militants, an Iraqi soldier and two Iraqi civilians, the American military said.

Two Marines were slightly injured, the military said, adding the fighting also wounded four insurgents and two Iraqi soldiers. Five militants were captured, the statement said.

...Also Tuesday, three roadside bombs targeting police patrols exploded in western Baghdad, injuring four officers, said police Maj. Musa Abdul Karim. The U.S. military confirmed two blasts in the area, but had no information on casualties.

Elsewhere, gunmen killed three Iraqi policemen in three separate attacks on Tuesday in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, police 1st Lt. Qassim Mohammed said.

...At least 35 other Iraqis were killed Monday, including eight soldiers cut down by a suicide attacker who blew up a truck at a checkpoint south of the capital, and six civilians caught in a car bombing that set fire to a Baghdad apartment building. An American and a British soldier were also killed in separate roadside bombings.

...The skyrocketing attacks are blamed on an insurgency believed largely made up of members of Iraq's Sunni minority, who dominated for decades under Saddam Hussein but were excluded from meaningful positions in a partial new Cabinet announced Thursday.

...On Jan. 30, millions of Iraqis risked their lives to elect the Shiite-dominated assembly, but many Sunnis boycotted the vote or stayed home for fear of attacks at the polls.
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Although the recent violence is meant to undermine the new Iraqi government, it won't succeed.

Freedom isn't free.

It's a bumper sticker, a cliche. It's also true.

In January, millions of Iraqis were willing to put their lives at risk to cast their votes. At great personal danger, they freely participated in a meaningful election, as opposed to the bogus ones that "gave" Saddam Hussein his power.

I found it positively inspiring. It reminded me how spoiled we are, the right to vote being something so many of us take for granted. We are able to determine the makeup of our government without the threat of death; yet far too many Americans don't bother to go to the polls. We are blessed to have safe elections and a peaceful transition of power engrained in our society.

Our freedoms truly define us as a nation.

Witnessing the struggle to establish a government in Iraq, it's important to remember that America wasn't built in a day. Maintaining democracy is a never-ending process, each generation carrying it forward.

In Iraq, the difficult process has just begun.


In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
--Franklin D. Roosevelt, Speech, September 22, 1936