World watches rebirth of a nation

A remarkable thing began yesterday - the first Iraqi election in more than 50 years. Although the election will be Sunday in Iraq, expatriates already have started casting their ballots around the world. It is the rebirth of a nation.

There can be grave and genuine disagreements over the United States' presence in Iraq, but there is no denying the third of three fundamental goals will be accomplished - a year ago, the establishment of an interim constitution; last summer, the transition of power to a sovereign government; and on Sunday, free elections.

It will be a difficult election, likely a bloody election. There will be charges of ballot-box fraud and ethnic discrimination, of U.S. influence and imperfect leadership.

The focus, however, will be on establishment of a democracy where none has existed.

"And it's all being broadcast on al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya," writes Dan Senor, who was chief spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq for a year. "Because the give-and-take of Iraq's free election is playing out on pan-Arab TV, young Arabs from Damascus and Cairo to Kuwait City and Riyadh are audience to the birth of Iraq's democracy, however complicated."

Whatever happens from here, the Iraq people will have a taste of self-governance and a promise of settling their differences at the ballot box instead of by gunfire in the street. They will see the responsibility they share, a responsibility most seem prepared to shoulder.

Violence won't magically disappear. A long struggle lies ahead. An Iraqi man voting in Australia summed it up with words that sound as if they might have come from America a couple of centuries ago:

"The point is if you need freedom, you have to fight for it."

And once won, won't easily relinquish.