From the Dark To The Light

Attacks on Iraqi Police Kill at Least 59

'A car bomb Tuesday ripped through a busy market near a Baghdad police headquarters where Iraqis were waiting to apply for jobs on the force, and gunmen opened fire on a van carrying police home from work in Baquoba, killing at least 59 people total and wounding at least 114.'

Another terrible example of Iraqis killing their own people, and another example of how the citizenry seem to concontinue to refuse to help drive these terrorists out of their own midsts.

But then there's this:

'Angry crowds of young men pumped their fists in the air and denounced President Bush and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, saying the had failed to protect Iraqis. "Bush is a dog," they chanted.'

Yeah, right, ok. Yes, it's our fault we didn't protect you enough. You bloody cowards. We're the ones who've lost 1000 of our own soldiers not protecting you enough. Take charge of your own lives and get rid of al-Sadr and al-Zawahiri yourselves. You've lived in fear of Saddam Hussein and his sons and secret police for thirty years - I understand the light is bright, and it takes time to learn again how to stand on your own two feet. But prove to us the story of how tough you are and stand up for yourselves against the people who are trying to take your freedom away from you again!!

Iraqi people, we want to see you free. We want to see you sit safely in your cafes and drink coffee and eat sandwiches and live happy lives, not worrying whether someone's going to haul you off in a car to be tortured. We want to help you let your daughters grow up and not worry about being someone's slave. We're sacrificing our own lives to help you live the way you want, and deserve to live.

But there comes a time when you have to prove you can handle freedom, and responsibilities that come with it. Denouncing us for not protecting you enough is not being responsible, and it's not being mature. It's continuing to be the abject sheep you've been (forced to be) for thiry years. The pen is now open - stop cowering in the mud!

You have every bloody right to be angry. These "Freedom Fighters" just murdered or injured almost 200 of your friends, neighbords, sons or daughters. But to blame the US for not protecting you is like gaining 100 pounds and blaming McDonalds for not stopping you buying all those Big Macs.

You could be an American...

No, we didn't ask your permission to invade your country. Yes, we did it mostly in a spirit of self-preservation to stem the tide of growing Middle-Eastern terrorism. But bringing freedom to oppressed people is what our country is about, and we gladly share it with you. But if you want to keep freedom, you have to show you want it and are willing to struggle for it.

War is easy. It was over in 3 months or so. Peace, however, is hard, and it's bloody. And it will be more bloody the more you try to stay in the shadows and let people like al-Sadr and al-Zawahiri speak for you.

We've done the hard stuff for you - Saddam and his sons and the secret police are gone. The opportunity exists for you all to sit in a Baghdad cafe and sip tea and eat sandwiches without fear of being blown to hell - but you have to take a stand for yourselves as a people, as a nation, against the ones who say they're fighting in your name --- and then do something like this.

Your thirty years of darkness are over. We'll help you as much as we can, but ultimately it will be your responsibility to stand up for yourselves.

Have the courage to step into the light.