Delay is a Defeat

Is the loose talk lately about delaying the Iraqi elections scheduled for January 30 (via Real Clear Politics) a trial balloon for a real proposal? Could we really be this foolish?

When I read that calls for a delay are "growing" I begin to wonder. But the "growing" voices are Sunni clerics and the largest Sunni party. So the Sunnis want a delay because Sunnis are bombing up Iraq to delay the elections? How convenient.

And for all the concern for the Sunnis who so many are desperate to convince to go to the polls, what about the Kurds and Shias who patiently wait for a chance for democracy? Shouldn't we worry that delaying the elections to appease the killers and terrorists will inspire our friends to finally go postal on the Sunnis if the Shias and Kurds think that Sunnis are denying them their rightful place in Iraqi society and government? And if we grant those killing and terrorizing a privilege how can we turn down requests from friends for exceptions to the laws, as was noted in this press conference about election preparations? Is it really possible that we would reward terror? Good God, I hope not.

Look, the Sunnis and their foreign jihadi friends aren't fighting because they are concerned about butterfly ballots or some such techncial thing--they are fighting to prevent elections. If we delay the elections, the enemy will see this as a victory for them and they will be encouraged. And rather than buying time to tamp down the insurgency in the Sunni areas, we will give the Baathists ammunition to recruit and coerce support. We may have killed 20,000 enemy fighters over the last year but killing will never be enough unless we are willing to kill a couple hundred thousand Sunnis real fast to decimate their ranks. We must defeat them in their minds and take away their hope of victory. Delaying the election will do the opposite. No matter what happens in the next few weeks we have to press forward. If 60% of Iraqis vote, that will be quite good--about 59.9 percentage points better than the last election by Saddam. If the Sunnis sit this one out, so be it. They will have another chance in a year or so and a year to see what sitting out the process gives them.

No delays. No excuses. Absorb the enemy attacks and count the ballots. We simply aren't going to get a quiet Vermont vote no matter how many times we delay. Keep moving forward. Elections are what our enemies fear most.