And what if the Sunnis Don't Vote?

It is not a democracy without the Sunnis. But self disenfranchisement is not the same thing as being systematically oppressed, right? More than likely some Sunnis voted but if there is a skewed vote, we will have a skewed government which could lead to a skewed civil war.

And the media heads are all talking about how there was people walking in, marching in, dancing in to the polling places. And, on "this historic day" -- which makes me wonder why the same guy chanting "very happy" is on several news channels? -- we have a lack of an appreciation that voting is the easy part; now, government building that is hard.

And what of the insurgents? There was violence and some bombings but not nearly as much as expected. Of course, if you want to really strike a chord of fear and anger, how about waiting until the day after the vote and gun for people with the purple fingers? Yeah, only the best security in Bush's Iraq.

And what of our ex-good friend, Chalabi? Will he still get elected into a position in the new government?

Preliminary results are expected in about six days, with a full result not due for 10 days.

But correspondents say there was a marked division in voting - high in Shia and Kurdish strongholds and much lower in Sunni Arab areas.

The election was marred by a series of election-day attacks across Iraq which killed at least 36 people.

And just before voting officially ended, a British military transport plane crashed north of Baghdad killing at least nine soldiers.

Needlenose raises several questions about the Iraqi elections that we should consider as well.

How effective will this election be for the Iraqis? Only time will tell.