A great, great day for freedom, for Iraq, the U.S. and the world.

The elections in Iraq on Sunday were an enormous victory for us all. The great majority of the Iraqi people, faced with death threats and extreme intimidation, chose freedom over terrorism. THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING.

For many months our friends at Friends of Democracy had been saying that Iraqis want elections, they are ready for elections and that the world should let the Iraqi people speak for themselves. In December they told us Iraqis were getting "election fever." They were right. Extraordinarily right.

You should be proud that you, too, played a part in this great day. At the end of this message is a summary of the Spirit of America Iraq democracy projects that your support made possible. But first, here are a few photos and quotes from Friends of Democracy correspondents in Iraq.

This message was received by SoA’s Kerry Dupont from Dalia (director of Friends of Democracy) after she returned safely from voting:

"it was lovly kerry all people were happy to join the election they were shouting in the street and dancing oh kerry i don't now how can i explain my feeling only want to say one thing THANK YOU AMERICA”

Have purple fingers ever been so beautiful? Never. This one from Najaf.

Two brothers making the “V” for victory sign.

A voter in Baghdad

In our Sunday election event covered by C-SPAN, there was appreciation for the sacrifices of the men and women that liberated Iraq. Omar from Baghad said, “Those millions of Iraqis who marched with all this bravery this morning to the polling stations are all grateful for the people and Administrations of the coalition countries that made this happen. I’m sure that the vast majority of Iraqis appreciate their freedom, freedom they won after decades of brutal dictatorship and thus those people appreciate the efforts and sacrifices and every single drop of blood that was shed for their freedom.”

And Ahmad, our show host said: “(Americans) should be proud of their sons and daughters. I’m sure many Iraqis will not forget this contribution which brought a different life to them … without those sons and daughters of America we could not have achieved this. I know many Iraqis who pray every day for those guys. I saw old men, old women - Muslims by the way - praying for those soldiers … what was done was something that will never be forgotten by the Iraqis, the fact that the Iraqis are celebrating today. This could have never, ever have happened without those American sons and daughters.”

More photos, stories and quotes from Iraq are at the Friends of Democracy Web site.

How You Helped – Spirit of America Iraq Democracy Projects Your support contributed to the success of Iraq’s free elections. Here are the initiatives Spirit of America made possible because of your generosity. We provided funding and advice to each of these projects. When we began in October we summarized our plans here.

Friends of Democracy is an Iraqi pro-democracy organization that was created by Iraqis and made possible with Spirit of America financial support. In November, December and January, Friends of Democracy put on election lectures and debates in universities and community centers in 1/3 of Iraq’s provinces. Below is a photo of one of the first-ever Iraq political debates that was put on by Friends of Democracy. Seems like people are adjusting well to free discussion. Ain’t democracy grand?

Arabic blogging tool – the Arabic blogging tool developed through Spirit of America was launched and in use in the run up to the elections. Friends of Democracy used it to provide election information and news to Iraqis and to allow Iraqis to create blogs (Internet sites) where they could publish their opinions freely and securely. You can find the Arabic blogs here.

Election news from Friends of Democracy – Friends of Democracy created a grass roots correspondent network to provide ground level election news and views from the people of Iraq. The goal was to ensure the voices of real, “ordinary” Iraqis were heard. This information was published in Arabic using the Arabic blogging tool and in English. The Arabic site was advertised in Iraq.

Women’s programming and advertisements – Spirit of America funded the creation of television programming and advertisements by Iraq’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The programming informed women about the elections and encouraged women to vote. This programming also promoted the Friends of Democracy Web site.

Election advertising – Spirit of America funded additional TV spots by an Iraqi organization called Civil Pillar that encouraged Iraqis to vote.

Spirit of America election coverage event – on Sunday, Spirit of America hosted an event on Iraq’s elections. Our goal was to provide a full picture of the elections from the people of Iraq. This event was broadcast on C-SPAN and reached millions of viewers in the United States and Europe. You can still watch the broadcast on the Web here.

Everything above was done in the last 3 months. Our Iraq democracy initiative effort was formally announced on October 22 and was written up in the Wall Street Journal at that time. And, we described it here.

When we kicked off our efforts to support democracy in Iraq I said it was our most important undertaking to date. The reason I said that is because the elections can do more to discredit and ultimately defeat the terrorists than any other single event. The Iraqi people now clearly stand with freedom, peace and self determination. Iraqis have seen that they are not alone. One Iraqi told me this morning: “We gave the terrorists a powerful message. We told them they might be able to kill our bodies but they cannot kill our dream.”

Thank you for your support. The New Year is off to a great start and, with your help, we’ll do our best to bring the dream of freedom, democracy and peace to reality. There is obviously a long, long, long way to go but that fact doesn’t diminish a great moment of celebration.

With our best regards, Jim Hake and the Spirit of America team http://www.spiritofamerica.net