Oh, this political progress in Iraq.

“Until now he has said ‘No’ to many things because there was nothing right in the government,” said Mohamed Faeq, [Adnan al Duleimi’s] spokesman. “But now we will try to stop the fighting and create a dialogue between the resistance and the American occupation. We want to stop the bloodshed, defend the rights of the Sunnis and get our place back in government.” (source)

Duleimi is noted for having called for a rejection of the Iraqi elections last January and another rejection on the Iraqi constitution. He has strived at creating an equal footing for Sunnis in Iraq, clearly a notable and worthwhile goal, yet before now he has asked Sunnis not to go to the ballot box showing the understanding of what Democracy is to many Iraqis has, until now hopefully, remained behind closed doors.

Another Sunni cleric who urged worshippers to vote and spoke out against terrorism and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has left a democratic legacy in Fallujah a mere 12 days after his death. Another Sunni in Fallujah says he will not be silenced in this election like the previous election where Sunnis were urged not to vote and where the voting turnout was lowest in terms of population percentage.

“We will not allow an Iranian-style country to be built over our backs. Our voices and votes were lost when we boycotted the elections,” said a 30-year-old man who gave his name only as Mustafa. “We are going to take our rightful number of seats in the assembly and the government. We refuse to remain shadows in our own country.”

Even a member of a Sunni insurgent group is considering participating in the political process arguing that not voting would be declaring war “against our own people.” That’s what Democracy is and it is more solidly in Iraq now than ever before, yet some want to say there’s no hope.