Iraq Still Getting Safer

January was another record month for security in Iraq, though oddly only the Chinese news media seemed to notice.

BAGHDAD, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) — Iraq’s monthly civilian death toll in January dropped to lowest levels since the U.S.-led invasion in2003, the authorities said on Sunday.

According to figures compiled by Iraq’s health, defense and interior ministries, a total of 189 people were killed, including 138 civilians, 24 policemen and 27 army soldiers, in violence across the country during the month of January.

To put that in perspective, 189 people per month in a country of 28.2 million works out to a somewhat astonishing 8 per 100,000 per year, within shouting distance of the 5.7/100,000 rate the U.S. recorded in 2007.

To put that in further perspective, the Iraqi violent death rate in January is actually less than the rate recorded during several recent spans here in the U.S.

Meanwhile, as expected, Iraqis seem to be rewarding politicians who promise less violence.

Some partial and unofficial results leaked to Iraqi media suggest the public turned away from religious parties widely blamed for stoking sectarian tension.

This is why democracy is important, even when other liberal institutions are absent or in their infancy — democracy is not just about the holding of elections, but the evolution of common goals across ethnosectarian lines and the assigning of blame/credit for failure/success in the pursuit of those goals.

In 2005, Iraqis were merely voting because (finally) they could.  Today, they are voting for results. 

As Glenn likes to say, democratization is a process, not an event.  The national elections later this year should continue the process, further cementing the power of those pursuing a secular agenda of prosperity and security.