The Jan. 30 elections in Iraq "put an end to any moral legitimacy the insurgents may have had," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during a news conference here today. (US Dept. of Defense)

Iraq's deadly insurgency will rage on, no matter what the outcome of next month's elections may be, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said, amid new questions about the polls after a boycott call by the main Sunni Muslim party. (US politics at Designerz.com)

After the Iraq elections, the dealmaking begins. (Monday Morning)

Trudy Rubin: A minority must accept less power. Here's what fascinates me the most about the electoral experiment going on in Iraq: It tests whether the Arab world can move beyond regarding politics as a zero-sum game. In recent Arab history, winners take all, and losers go to jail. ''This is the first time ever that power has been transferred without a coup, a killing or a hereditary shift,'' a senior Iraqi official told me by phone, ``with the single exception of Lebanon.'' [...] (Miami Herald)

Allan Wall: National Question Real Victor In Iraq Elections. Twenty-two months after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraq held an election. Voters chose a provisional assembly charged with drafting the country's permanent constitution. I am currently in Iraq, serving with my National Guard unit. We were here on Election Day and did our duty. So I played my small part in this historic occasion. Saddam Hussein was a mass-murdering megalomaniac who deserved to be overthrown. But what kind of Iraq will emerge now? That's what remains to be seen. In order to appreciate the challenges Iraq faces, we have to recognize what kind of country it really is. Iraq is a 20th-century multicultural concoction. [...] (Memo From Mesopotamia at VDare.com)

Poll: Americans not convinced Iraqi elections have hastened U.S. troops departure timing. (AP via Boston Globe)