Washington won a battle, but not 'war' on al-Qaeda

"It would be premature to call it a major victory," said David Rothkopf of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, who added: "It is certainly a step in the right direction. Even President Bush's critics need to acknowledge the courage of the Iraqi people."

Bush on Sunday called Iraq's first free elections in half a century "a resounding success" and said that by participating in them, "the Iraqi people have firmly rejected the anti-democratic ideology of the terrorists."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the election was "a blow right to the heart of the global terrorism that threatens destruction not just in Iraq" and around the world.

Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution said: "It seems a victory. But a victory in one battle does not mean you won the war. It certainly helps.

"It does not mean it is over," he said, noting that Jordanian Islamic extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, with links to the al-Qaeda terror network, "is still out there."

Zarqawi pledged bloodshed in Sunday's vote to stop Iraqis from going to the polls.

But, his group's end goal -- to try and prevent people turning out -- "seems to have failed."

With violence in Iraq somewhat contained Sunday, amid Iraqis' massive turnout, "it shows they (terrorists) are even disconnected from any kind of political cause," said Singer.

"It seems that from at least what we have seen from the voters in Iraq, they want some kind of return in normalcy.

"... Basically these people want a functioning government and they want the violence to end. Zarqawi is not really able to offer anything other than the opposite of that."

US media on Monday applauded the elections in Iraq. The New York Times hailed it as "remarkably successful." For The Wall Street Journal the Iraqi election delivered an "eloquent rebuttal" to US critics of President Bush's Iraq policy.

A less positive Democratic opposition in the United States called for an exit strategy for US troops in Iraq. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said Iraq was now "a breeding ground for terrorists."