Plenty of cover was available had the Bush administration wanted to postpone this past weekend's popular elections in Iraq. "Wait till the violence dies down," many had urged.

Instead, setting a higher priority on its credibility with the Iraqi people and with the world at large, the Bush administration gambled that the emphasis of recent press coverage has been wrong, that the bulk of Iraq is not in flames, nor its people anxious to dismiss as a cynical charade the nation's first chance at a free election in 50 years.

Betting that the vast majority of Iraqis would be willing to risk their lives, if necessary, to join the ranks of modern nations in which the people practice self-determination, President Bush stayed the course.

The world held its breath. The elections were held. And many a naysayer must be stunned.

Voter turnout may well have exceeded the projected 57 percent. Even with security helicopters hovering low, gunfire in the distance and a ban on driving designed to frustrate would-be terrorists, some 8 million Iraqis defied the terrorists, standing in line to cast ballots for a 275-member National Assembly and 18 provincial legislatures.

And when they were done, many danced and cheered that they had finally been allowed to exercise a right that too many in the West now shrug off with a yawn.

Yes, 44 people did die in terrorist attacks on voters and polling places. That's heart-breaking. But those who have insisted on celebrating the murderous work of the Sunni die-hards and infiltrating foreign jihadists --- to the exclusion of any good news about coalition progress --- now need to be asked: "That's it? That's all they've got? The one big day when they doubtless sent everything they had, we see thousands in the streets not vilifying the Americans, but cheering at this concrete sign that freedom is returning?"

The sprawling country remains an attractive place for disgruntled fundamentalists to get to grips with American personnel. But the opposite is also true. The mission of the United States military is to help would-be enemy suicide attackers meet their maker in the largest numbers possible. And if this can be done in Tikrit and Samarra rather than in New York and New Jersey, so much the better.

Eighty percent of Iraqis are Kurds and Shiites, residing in the north and south. A style of reporting that concentrates on "12 dead today in the Sunni triangle" had not been paying them much heed --- till Sunday.

Iraqi officials said they may need 10 days to determine the outcome of the vote. But those who believe modern technological nations such as neighboring Iran can be run much longer by black-turbaned clerics pretending they live in eighth-century Medina while ignoring swelling cries for reform, can already see the most important message in Sunday's massive and deliberate vote-casting in Iraq.