Why We Fight, pt. (I think I’ve lost count)
As part of our ongoing series on “Why We Fight” – anyone ever seen those old WWII films? – we present the voice of the Iraqi people via this excellent article:
. . . few Iraqis speak in puzzles anymore. They ask direct questions. Here is the rest of that Monday morning conversation:
“Do you know when?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Are you coming?”
“Yes. I am coming. We will . . . ”
The second speaker, an Iraqi in Michigan, began to provide details but quickly reconsidered, ending his thought in mid-sentence. He says he was shocked by the candor coming from Iraq. “Never in the history of Iraq do people talk like this,” he said later.
“Why are you silent?”
“I’m afraid that you’ll be in danger.”
“Don’t be afraid. We are not afraid. This time is serious.”
“I am coming with the American Army.”
“Is there a way that we can register our names with the American forces to work with them when they arrive? Will you call my house at the first moment you arrive? I will help.”
If that doesn’t make you want to run right out and slap a peace-pansy I don’t know what can. How about this hope for the future?
Another, Hawra al-Zuad, is a 16-year-old student at an Islamic academy in suburban Detroit. Her sky blue headscarf seems to coexist comfortably with her marked Detroit accent. Although she doesn’t remember her family’s flight 12 years ago, she is eager to return to her native Iraq. “I’ll go visit right away,” she says. “I want to go see how it is over there. I forgot everything about it. I want to see my house, where I used to live when I was little.”
A good way to spend summer vacation, I suggest.
She quickly corrects me. “Spring break. I hope it’s spring break.”
And there’s what all the peace-pukes have been missing. These are a people ready, willing and able to fight to win their freedom. As the article points out, they’ve already done it once with near success. Too bad We the People didn’t fulfill our promises. Can you imagine the go-go 1990s with a Middle East in the last throes of despotism? Hell, we’d probably not be in a recession now, Clinton might not have been President, we’d certainly still have a WTC, the list goes on and on. But no, we had to piss about for 12 years abandoning our friends and placating our enemies and now look where it’s got us.
F ‘em. Kill ‘em all. These folks will back us. Who needs the rest of the world?
March 7th, 2003 at 7:33 AM
Hey! I liked how you put the article. I thought it was awesome newayz i was one of the people that was interviewd by Steve Hayes it was a wonderful experience. What I wanted to say was that people outside of Iraq that are against the war have no idea whats going on. They say there against the war but do they know that a war has been going on inside of Iraq for the past 35 yrs…Ever since Sadaam came.
The people that used to live there can talk in the name of Iraqis living there. Do you really think if they had a chance to express there opinion they would be sitting at home and then one someone interviews them they say that America should stay away! Of course they’re going to say that, if they didn’t you’d find them dead.
For the people that still think that we shouldn’t go out to war…..Have you ever heard of a country that cuts off a ear or tongue for saying something against the president or for nothing…What about a law that tatooes an X on your forehead if a person doesn’t go to the army.
I could go on and talk about the grinders near the Euphrates..The only thing left to say is the people of Iraq deserves to live their lives. Just like we do…I’m 17 yrs old and I live a great life. But when you come to think of it I feel really bad at times becuase I remeber how the people my age in Iraq are suffering. I hope what I wrote would change some peoples’ prespective on not going to war. Thank You!