(Thumbnail image: Xinhua)

Iraq is counting votes after the country's second full national elections since 2003.

Despite mortar and bomb attacks as polls opened--many seem ready to declare the election a success. This just six months before U.S. combat troops are set to pull out in August.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "Today's voting makes it clear that the future of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq."

"It's their democracy. It's their democratic right to vote." (ITN)

"This election is also a critical test for U.S. forces. There are still just under a hundred thousand American soldiers in Iraq. U.S. officials say the violence today does not appear that it will impact the American withdrawal." (NBC)
 
On Al Jazeera English, a reporter says this election will allow Iraqis to take control of their own fates.

“In the past, Iraqis generally held outside forces responsible for the country’s ills. The U.S. has been blamed, as has Saudi Arabia and Iran... But in a maturing political system, the issue of accountability cannot be avoided, and by casting a democratic vote, Iraqis are accepting responsibility rather than apportioning blame.”

An article in the New York Times reports the less-than-expected level of violence on election day both surprised--and relieved--U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq.

“…America’s role here may be its smallest yet. Unseasoned as many of the soldiers here are, they seemed to have an understanding that the success — or not — of the elections could dictate how soon the Americans could go home.”
 
CNN's Arwa Damon focuses on Iraqis at the polls, saying many feel the same as they did during the 2005 elections.

“A lot of what we’re hearing here is the very same things from people that we heard back in 2005, the first time that they went to vote in parliamentary elections. They still want the same thing: basic services, jobs, and, of course, security. ... Of course everyone is hoping that these elections are going to give Iraq a better future, but there is still this sense of anxiety that prevails, that the post-election period is going to be very violent and very bloody.”
 
A senior fellow from the liberal Washington think-tank Center for American Progress echoes that sentiment, telling PBS nothing has changed this time around.
 
“I actually think this election, and, importantly, the post-election period, how the leaders deal with the coalition building and others, it tests how viable Iraq’s political system is. We have a myth of our surge of U.S. forces in 2007, 2008. Clearly that helped lead to a decline in violence, but the other part of the rationale for the surge—let’s help Iraqis bridge these divides—I would argue today the key factions are still as divided.”


Writer: Brandon Twichell