Brain Fertilizer

I'm as excited as the next person, and I'm not pooh-poohing the results or the effort.

But it is important to remember that an election is just an election. You don't have "democracy" until one side can lose power and still participate in the electoral process afterward. Or until both sides can win power without dissolving future elections. We had nascent democracies in both Pakistan and Algeria, but both were shut down when Islamic Extremists threatened to impose Sharia and cancel further electiosn after taking power.
It's hard to say at exactly what point Iraq actually "has" democracy. I'd say that Afghanistan already does, despite not having had a series of election cycles...but we'll have to see what Karzai does in the face of losing power before we can know for sure.

And the most important thing will be how Iraq develops the Rule of Law, something already growing entrenched in Afghanistan. Karzai is using the legal mechanisms to help his country, not fiat based on personal power. And that's very important for the future of his country.