Today is a momentous day. Iraqis went to the polls to freely decide their own future. If anyone doubts how precious freedom is, and what it costs, consider where the Iraqis have come from, what they have endured to get here, and what it cost the magnificient US military to purchase this day. Despite all the violence and threats from the terrorists who want to keep people in terrible bondage, the Iraqi people, in large numbers, joyously cast their votes, and what will become a symbolic answer to the terrorists, the purple fingertips of people who voted, will be a reminder that people can defeat even the worst murderers thugs when they band together.

This is a day to thank President Bush, for without him Saddam would still be torturing and murdering people, and there would be no vote today. Thanks especially to the US military who has endured much. Without their professionalism and determination, there would be no election today. They can be proud of what they've given the Iraqi people today.

Now, around the region, people who are still enslaved by tyrants, in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere will look at Iraq and wonder in their hearts why they can't freely vote, too. This is why Bush took us into Iraq, to set in motion these waves of freedom that will jostle evil regimes in the region, and begin to shake them loose.