Why It Deserves the Hype

Now what? The elections are over. The euphoria is passing. Iraqis will now begin the hard work of negotiation, coalition building and their first real politics in 30 years. Americans will continue to bleed defending that fledgling democracy. And critics of the war will have to acknowledge that something new and good has happened in Iraq, although, like Senator John Kerry, they will couch it in sage warnings not to "overhype this election."

That's hardly the problem. The problem is that U.S. allies in Europe and the Arab world will underhype this election. When millions of...