1115.org

In the days following the Iraqi election, a lot of people out there decided to show their solidarity with the voters of Iraq by putting blue ink on their index finger. A fairly harmless gesture, though it could probably be argued that many of the people inking up their fingers do it in support of George Bush’s Iraq policy rather than the country itself. In case you missed it, the fact that Iraq had an election wipes the slate entirely clean of missing WMD’s, bad intelligence, hundreds of billions of dollars spent, and more than 1,400 US servicemen and women killed…so stop your complaining.

The Iraq elections created some great pictures and inspiring stories. And it’s a big deal to a people that have lived under the thumb of dictatorship for so many years. But it is only one step toward the goal of a stable country, not a stunt to make warbloggers feel better about invading a country that was not a threat to our security, had tenuous ties to Al Qaeda (at best), and was not responsible for the horrors of 9/11. But it’s funny how so many conservatives didn’t give a damn about Iraqis and their civilian casualties in the months leading up to the elections, treating any mention of the subject as somehow subversive and traitorous. And I have to wonder how many of the right-wing nutjobs who took a “let’s just nuke Iraq and get it over with” attitude are now proudly waving around blue fingers in support of people they recently wanted to bomb off the face of the Earth.

And another question for our ink-stained conservative friends: will you be so supportive of the Iraqi voters once they elect a government that doesn’t have America’s interests at heart? Early reports indicate that the party headed by top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has taken a lead over its more-secular rivals. If this trend holds through the final results, Iraq could very well wind up with a government more aligned with future battlefield Iran than the good ol’ US of A.

Once that happens, people can go back to bitching about the Iraqis. Perhaps the ink will have washed off by then.