Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush praised the nationwide vote in Iraq 23 months after he ordered the overthrow of Saddam Hussein as a triumph for his policy to promote democracy across the Middle East.

``The people of Iraq have spoken to the world, and the world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East,'' Bush said hours after polls closed in Iraq.

Election day in Iraq included suicide bombings and mortar attacks on polling stations in Baghdad, Mosul and Baquba that killed as many as 35 people, the Associated Press said. Still, the level of violence was below what might have been expected on a day insurgents vowed to disrupt, both U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraqi leaders said.

Voter turnout was about 60 percent nationwide, according to the Iraqi electoral commission, and in line with expectations of high participation in Kurdish and Shia regions and lower rates in the Sunni regions that were more supportive of Hussein.

Bush, in a brief statement at the White House, praised not only on the Iraqi people and U.S. troops and diplomats, but also the European Union and the United Nations, centers of opposition to his March 2003 invasion, saying they ``gave important assistance in the election process.''

He acknowledged domestic concern as the U.S. death toll has climbed past 1,400, saying, ``The people of the United States have been patient and resolute, even in difficult days.''

British Prime Minister Tony Blair also took comfort in the results, after being criticized at home and abroad for his support of Bush's policy in Iraq. ``It was the force of freedom that was felt throughout Iraq today,'' Blair said of the vote.

`Stock Ought to Rise'

Bush may ultimately get credit from his detractors, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, a Republican of Indiana, said in an interview with CBS News.

``Not necessarily right away,'' Lugar said. ``Most people around the world really hoped, I suppose, for some good result in Iraq.'' As Iraq forms a legislature and makes continued progress toward democratic rule, ``our stock ought to rise,'' Lugar said. ``And we ought to be telling people about it.''

Bush and Rice, who appeared earlier on a series of the Sunday network television talk shows, both made clear they understood the U.S. was far from declaring Iraq a stable democracy and its insurgent forces defeated.

`Commitment Goes Forward'

Among the immediate challenges facing Iraqi leaders is to protect the National Assembly that was elected today and will draft a permanent constitution and prepare for a general election at year's end. Insurgents may try to escalate attacks in response to the apparent success of the voting, Bush and Rice said.

``The commitment to a free Iraq now goes forward,'' Bush said.

Bush has no intention of withdrawing the 150,000 U.S. forces in Iraq, as urged last week by Senator Edward Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts, Rice said.

Kennedy's suggestion is ``dangerous,'' Rice, who took office Wednesday, said in an interview with ABC News. ``My response to all of the talk of what we might do is to say, `Let's do the job,''' she said.

She declined to comment on a report in The Washington Post saying U.S. military commanders are preparing to withdraw about 15,000 troops this spring. Bush will rely on recommendations from U.S. military commanders, she said.

Kerry's Critique

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who lost to Bush in last year's presidential election, said during an interview with NBC News that he doesn't agree with Kennedy's call for a withdrawal. Kerry said the U.S. is safer with Hussein and his government gone, but ``the world is less safe today than it was 2- 1/2 years ago'' when the U.S. invaded Iraq.

``It is significant that there was a vote in Iraq,'' Kerry said on NBC. Still, he said, ``No one in the United States should try to over-hype this election.

``This election is a sort of demarcation point, and what really counts now is the effort to have a legitimate political reconciliation that is going to take a massive diplomatic effort and a much more significant outreach to the international community than this administration has been willing to engage in,'' Kerry said.

Rice said she agreed that much work remains after Iraq's first democratic election since 1953, noting in an interview with CNN that General George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said ``it's going to be a while before the insurgency can be defeated.''

`Good Day Today'

Yet, Iraq's security forces ``had a good day today,'' Rice said on CNN. ``General Casey reports that they've done well. And so they've done well in support of their own democracy. That's a good sign.''

Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that he plans to meet tomorrow with French President Jacques Chirac, one of the most vocal opponents of the war, and urge him to start cooperating in the training of Iraqi military forces.

``I'm going to tell him politely that it's time for the French to step up,'' Biden said on CBS. ``We've done everything now he said he wanted done. There is real legitimacy, in terms of the election in Iraq.''

The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, after first reporting a voter turnout of 72 percent, said it believed about 60 percent of eligible Iraqis had participated.

``The streets of Baghdad were not soaked with blood,'' the commission's spokesman, Farid Ayar, told a news conference in Baghdad.

`Important First Step'

Adnan Pachachi, former president of the U.S.-appointed interim Iraqi Governing Council, said on CNN the results were ``much better than I had expected'' and ``an important first step toward establishing a democratic system in Iraq.''

Rice acknowledged turnout probably was lighter in areas where Iraq's minority Sunni population lives, since that's where insurgents angered by the loss of the political power they enjoyed under Hussein are waging the most violence.

``Nonetheless, I've been heartened, and I think the Iraqis have been heartened, by the comments of innumerable leaders -- Shia, Kurd and others -- that they expect there to be one Iraq, that they expect the Sunni population to be represented in their views as they go to writing a constitution,'' Rice said on ABC.

Political setbacks are expected as Iraqis elected today begin the work of drafting a constitution, Rice said on CNN. Disagreements are likely over such matters as the role of Islam in their society, she said.

``This is the democratic process, and I fully expect that it is going to be a process that probably will have its twists and turns, ups and downs,'' Rice said.

Iran

Both Iran and Syria engaged in unhelpful activities in Iraq, Rice said on CNN.

``Iran is Iraq's neighbor, and we expect there to be relations between Iran and Iraq,'' Rice said. ``But they need to be transparent, neighborly relations, not relations that are aimed somehow at subverting Iraqi political processes. And so this is a discussion that a number of people are having with the Iranians.''

Rice said on ABC that she saw no dispute developing between the U.S., which has warned of possible military action against Iran to force an end to its suspected nuclear weapons activities, and European allies who have ruled out such action.

``What I see is that the world understands that there has to be unity in getting the Iranians to see that they cannot be part of the international system and pursue a nuclear weapon at the same time,'' Rice said.

That's a change from several years ago, when ``nobody was really listening to us when we said that the Iranians were probably pursuing a nuclear weapon under cover of a civilian nuclear power program,'' Rice said on ABC.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Basken in Washington at pbasken@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 30, 2005 14:53 EST