David Brooks

[Griff]

Interesting commentary by Brooks in the Times this morning.

In Iraq, the most effective advocates for democracy are precisely the traditional Muslim leaders. The Shiite clerics in Najaf, led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, have learned from the failure of Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution in Iran. As Reuel Marc Gerecht argues in his monograph, "The Islamic Paradox," their commitment to democracy is real, the product of a genuine intellectual revolution. The Sistani-backed slate will probably lead the coming vote.

The people on that slate are not turbaned Thomas Jeffersons. They are skeptical, to say the least, about Americans. They are retrograde when it comes to women's rights. But they have embraced political freedom and one person one vote. They have prevented a civil war by calling on Shiite forces to not seek revenge against Sunni terrorists. They will bring leading Sunnis into the constitution-writing process, even if Sunnis themselves are unable to vote.

They will continue the process that's one of the few success stories so far, the process of building political institutions: bargaining, squabbling and learning to share power.

I'm suprised and really want to be hopeful. What percentage of the population needs to get out to vote to call the election a success?