I couldn't agree more: even with blog reading to counter the cynicism and negative bias of the mass media, I was still taken aback by the success of the elections and, as you say, the unquenchable zeal of ordinary Iraqis to exercise their democratic rights. And why should it be surprising? No-one was surprised by the joy shown by the newly enfranchised in South Africa's first democratic election fifteen years ago. But when you are determined to see the world according to your beliefs, and not according to the facts and common sense, I suppose a lot of things must be surprising.