Optimism - Straight from Iraq!

The internet is an amazing tool. With it, we can communicate almost instantly with anyone, any place in the world.

With that in mind, I decided to see if I could find out for myself what ordinary Iraqis are thinking about the current situation in their country. There are many blogs, just like this one, written by Iraqis. Many of them, fortunately for me, are written in English.

One such blog is IBN_ALRAFIDAIN . On Friday, December 16, Ibn_Alrafidain, a male Iraqi, wrote the following:

President Bush said:

“I want to congratulate the Iraqi citizens for being courageous and in defying the terrorists and refusing to be cowed into not voting. I believe freedom is universal. I believe the Iraqi citizen cares just as much about freedom and living a free life as the American citizen does.”

Well, thank you Mr. President for these nice words; allow me to say without the help of the US people and their brave men & women in uniform, nothing of this would have been achieved.

It is great relief to hear Mr. Bush making it clear:

“I've assured these good Iraqi citizens that the United States will stay with them and complete this -- complete this job. They've expressed concern about listening to the commentary that we'll leave before the job is done -- they don't have to worry. We're doing the right thing. And we've got partners in peace with the Iraqi citizens.”

Frankly, the Americans left a deep scar in every Iraqi's heart when they withdrew from Iraq in 1991. Many Iraqis, till now, believe that the Americans may pull out without any forewarning, leaving them to face their destiny with terrorists & Saddamists. Personally, on listening to Mr. Bush’s speeches, I’m accumulating trust in US day after another.
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And may God bless America, Amen. Thank you Mr. President, people of the United States, US troops and every individual of the Multi-National Force for helping Iraq. I pray to God to protect these men & women.

In another blog, Democracy in Iraq (is here!) , Husayn Uthman writes

Despite the questioning put forth by so many people about my nation, about what we could do, we continue to move forward. Those of you who e-mailed me, those of you who have questioned this entire episode in history - the sands of time are proving you to be WRONG.

I am happy to say that the current elections are going on without any problems, it is strange that we have no violence during elections though, if anything - it shows me that our security forces are growing in strength and that is another signal that we are moving forward.

What else can I say - except to say to the naysayers that you must stop your nonsense, and realize that Iraq will be built in a democratic fashion - and that it will happen. Despite all the violence, carnage, and negativity, the Iraqi people continue on the path to freedom.

I wonder what naysayers he could be talking about.

I cannot emphasize this enough, I don't think that non-Iraqis understand the bloodshed here, everyday for the last three years, there has been some type of violence, someones family being robbed of love, someone being crippled, and yet, and yet, Iraqis have seen through this cancer and remain comitted to the goal.

This election is encouraging for this reason, and because we are finally seeing progress in unification, the Sunni leaders are finally seeing that we must stand united with our Shia and Kurdish brothers, or else our country will never be strong. How fitting is it that in this month, the animal Saddam goes on trial, and that we build a new parliament.

I am obviously excited, and optimistic, I look forward to the continuing progress, and the day when Iraq is a completely sovereign nation and that foreign troops leave our nation, and we stand on our feet. Then, all this bloodshed that we have been put through will truly be worth it, then it will be clear to us, that it was all worth it.

God Bless Iraq

The left likes to point out that Iraqis want American troops to leave their country. Of course they do, and Uthman's post makes it clear that he looks forward to that day. But he also makes it clear that he is very optimistic about what is happening in his country. Do you think we could hear a little of that optimism from liberals and media in this country?