"Iraq election unique in the extreme"? No. There was one with a couple of similar characteristics in Venezuela some years back. In that instance the legitimate government couldn't be displaced by the use of foreign-armed "contras" and "advisers", so the main port was blockaded , paralysing all trade and external commerce till the people finally voted "democratically" in sheer desperation for some kind of normality. Something along the same lines is being tried in Iraq. Millions of Iraqis will vote. They will vote because they want an end to the Hell that their country has become. And much as many of us would hope that this "exercise in democracy" might make a difference, the sad likelihood is continuing violence and struggle.
The plain truth is that there can be NO democracy in Iraq [or in any other Country] under an armed occupation. It is apparent now however that the divisions, ethnic and religious, in the Iraqi population are giving rise to what is as much a civil war as it is an anti-occupation struggle. Another truth, unfortunately, is that having imposed themselves by force of arms upon the Iraqi population, a withdrawal by the US-led "coalition" would now be a guarantee of bloody civil strife. So, "democratic" or not, some form of ruling purely Iraqi body must be formed ["elected" is a mockery of the language at this stage]which can, by some miracle, impose control on the population. That, I think, is the best that can be hoped for; the reality is much more likely to be escalating violence, more cruelty, more death. I hope I am wrong---