Election is a starting point for Iraq, and possibly the Middle East.

Byline: Colin McMahon and Evan Osnos

BAGHDAD, Iraq _ A rocket struck the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad late Saturday, killing two Americans and wounding five others despite a strict lockdown by U.S. and Iraqi forces across much of the country on the anxious eve of Iraq's landmark national elections.

Rebels also detonated bombs and attacked polling centers in many cities and filled the Baghdad night with the sound of gun battles, pressing their effort to derail an election that they contend is unfair, unnatural or even ungodly.

Yet, despite the violence, for the first time since the United States led a sweeping invasion that crushed a regime and unleashed both freedom and chaos, Iraq's battered people appeared poised for a chance to choose their leaders and shape their future.

The vote is first a test for the 111 "political entities" and 7,000 or so candidates competing for seats in a new National Assembly. But it also is a referendum on the Bush administration's vision for Iraq. If the country is to become a model for democracy and pluralism in the Middle East, Sunday's vote provides a crucial starting point.

"This is the beginning of the road," said Aqeel Ibrahim al-Attiya, a 53-year-old Baghdad actor who works at the Culture Ministry. "The elections will not be perfect; they are not perfect anywhere on the globe. But whatever the results, the new government will have local and international legitimacy.

"There is power in democracy," said al-Attiya, a Shiite who says the U.S. invasion was the only way to rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein. "The enemy in this country makes me afraid. But freedom has its price."

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