EDITORIAL
A grand moment, but a moment all the same

So much for the insurgents' threats to wash the streets with the blood of voters.

Millions of mostly Shiite and Kurdish Iraqis, from the crippled and elderly to veiled women with children, braved violence and mayhem Sunday to cast ballots for a 275-member transitional national assembly to bring Iraq closer to self-rule.

We're inspired by their courage and proud that U.S. troops could help boost participation in the country's first free election in more than 50 years.

Of course, the day was not without bloodshed; at least 44 people were killed in suicide bombings, shootings, and mortar and rocket attacks. But that didn't dampen the overall spirit of optimism in Shiite strongholds.

Early estimates put the turnout at 60 percent, which is remarkable when you consider voter turnout in America's 2004 election was roughly the same.

Also remarkable, and troubling, is that many were voting blind. Few of the 7,700 candidates for the assembly campaigned publicly, no doubt because a half-dozen declared candidates were assassinated.

That is a testament to the level of desperation for change in occupied Iraq, where electricity is off for several hours a day, unemployment is high, and kidnapping, carjackings, rape and murder are commonplace.

While voter turnout exceeded our expectations — and demonstrated the determination of Iraqis to shape their own destinies — it remains a small step toward a yet uncertain end.

Sunday's election was the first of three scheduled this year intended to result in a permanent constitution and elected governing body.

And while the votes are likely to be split between two Shiite parties — one led by Acting Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and the other by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani — Iraq's Sunni Arabs were largely disenfranchised from this election, which could lead to disunity and civil war.

Nor do we know what kind of Iraq the party that dominates the assembly has in mind: an inclusive secular state or a Shiite theocracy in which women and minorities are denied certain civil liberties? It's no secret that the latter would be a huge letdown after all the Bush administration's drum-beating for a "free" Iraq.

If Sharia (Islamic law) becomes the law of the land, the northern Kurds, too, are likely to move toward secession.

The best that we can hope for in coming months is for Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds to come together in support of a unified Iraq where all, regardless of gender or religion, can prosper and put behind them the decades of tyranny and chaotic occupation. That requires the Shiite majority to share the power.

Clearly, tough compromises lie ahead for everybody.