"We pray for you."

Yesterday the magnificent Iraqi people stood up to their monsters. The jihadi terrorists and remnants of the brutal Baath regime threatened any citizen who dared to vote with death, their children too. The terrorist leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, issued a statement before polling day threatening: “We shall kill anyone associated with elections: candidates, monitors, and voters.” The terrorists vowed to search out and kill anyone who bore the mark of democracy, the painted index finger signifying a vote cast for freedom.

Despite the threats, the brave people of Iraq, over 8 million of them, voted and emerged from the polling places singing, crying and waving the symbolic purple fingers. Some said they would never wash off the ink. A group of women waved to the brave American troops guarding the polling place: “We pray for you” they exclaimed.

An Iraqi named Fadhil offered a defiant message: “I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.”

Rashid Majid, an 80-year-old voter spoke to the insurgents: "We have freedom now, we have human rights, we have democracy. We will invite the insurgents to take part in our system. If they do, we will welcome them. If they don't, we will kill them."

The Iraqi election will be remembered as an historic event in the quest for democracy. "The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East," said President Bush.

The Iraqi people felt a profound sense of gratitude. "Now I feel that Saddam is really gone," said Fatima Ibrahim, smiling as she headed home after voting in Irbil. Fatima was a bride of just three months when her husband, father and brother were rounded up in a campaign of ethnic cleansing under Saddam. They have never been found.

Another young woman gave birth in the polling place and named her baby “Election.”

The election is also a testament to the universal appeal of freedom and the fundamental validity of the Bush doctrine. One recalls the democratic sentiments expressed by Archibald Macleish, a fervent supporter of American involvement in the Second World War: "How shall freedom be defended? By arms when it is attacked by arms; by truth when it is attacked by lies; by democratic faith when it is attacked by authoritarian dogma. Always, and in the final act, by determination and faith."

The Iraqi capital's new mayor (terrorists assassinated his predecessor) proclaimed: "We will build a statue for Bush. He is the symbol of freedom."