The stain of freedom

is again on display in Iraq as voting begins:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Voting began Monday in hospitals, military camps and even prisons across Iraq, launching the process to choose a new parliament that the United States hopes can help quell the insurgency so U.S. forces can begin heading home.

The woman pictured at right voted today in a Baghdad hospital.

Although most of the 15 million eligible voters will cast ballots Thursday, soldiers, police, hospital patients and prisoners not yet convicted of crimes can vote Monday.

No amount of defeatist rhetoric from the left can mask the truth that Iraqis are indeed taking charge of their own future. Even as the media puts their darkest spin on the election, this woman shows us the truth - Iraqis are more determined to succeed than any on the left would care to admit.

And yet Howard Dean and other leaders on the left call for surrender and retreat - a cynical dishonesty of spirit that leaves one breathless when contrasted with the truth pictured here.

Can't win? By many measures, we've already won, Howard. The choice now is between maintaining that victory or shattering it.