Morning Rounds

Captains Quarters, Pajamas Media, Instapundit, and many others are covering the Iraqi elections. Few reports of violence, and very heavy turnout has been reported, even in Sunni areas. Captain Ed reports that the low violence may be due to a negotiated ceasefire between native insurgent groups and the coalition forces. The hope is to get these groups to lay down their arms and consider the political process as a way to air their differences.

Bill Roggio is in Iraq, and provides his take. Also, check out the Iraqi bloggers, starting with Omar and Mohammed at Iraq the Model.

Meanwhile, Michael Totten has an enlightening visit to an iftar run by Hizbullah. An iftar is the first meal of the day just after sunset during the month of Ramadan. It's a big deal, and Hizbullah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was supposed to speak. Well, things didn't exactly go as expected, and the happy face that the Hizbullah media flack quickly wore off when behind the curtain it was revealed that Hizbullah hadn't changed at all. And this is what they have planned for Lebanon and anywhere else they set up shop.

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin has running updates on the historic elections. As I noted last nite, this is a new dawn for the Iraqi people, who are electing a full four-year term Parliment. They're making the most of it, as turnout is extremely heavy and the elections have been extended by an hour.

UPDATE:
This is a pretty good quote to keep in mind:

"Remember my friends, that's not ink your dipping your finger into... it's freedom."

HT: Oh_dude

UPDATE:
Austin Bay notes the unending stream of pessimism from the NYT. The paper focuses on the threats of violence, dissent, and problems and can't see that these elections were a great success. Go figure.

UPDATE:
Six Meat Buffet notes that the elections are going badly - for the lefties. Turnout is high. Violence is low. Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom also notes the silence of the Lefties. As does SoCalPundit.

UPDATE:
Flopping Aces has collected some great photos from around Iraq. And he notes what a difference four years makes.

UPDATE:
LGC - the Little Green Colloquium - takes the media to task for burying the historic events in Iraq in favor of ice storms and other agenda items.