For those who take their freedom for granted, a must read ...

Roger L. Simon points the way to a poignant and powerful essay by Mohammed, one of the two brothers (Omar being the other) who write the blog Iraq The Model. In today's piece, titled "A Routine Day in Iraq", Mohammed tells of his wishes for an Iraq free of the fears and violence of Saddam's regime, and how, on his birthday, he fears that his liberators may have more courage to stay the course than he does:

"The hardest thing is that I have to fight more, and I will, but God, please give me the strength. Why should I be strong while watching others run away; Spain, Honduras, Thailand, human organizations, the UN and all the others who want (and it’s their right I must say) to avoid the dangers. But why did they disappoint us? Why abandon us in this moment when we really need them? Will they come back when conditions improve? Most likely, but who will need them then!!? We don’t need doctors and engineers. We have enough of those and large numbers of Iraqi doctor, teachers and engineers are working abroad. We do export minds, and some of those have returned and are doing their job and some are on their way back. We need political, financial and military support, and once we get rid of the terrorists, WE will show you what we can do, and we will not forget those who helped us, they will remain as friends and allies, that’s from a political point of view. As for me, they will remain as my real family, my brothers and sisters.

One of our friend (sic) was angry when he saw the former slaves burn the flag of their liberators (and he has all the right to feel so), but I saw my country being destroyed for 35 years and I’m not desperate because I have faith that it will be rebuild one day. Still, why am I supposed to be the 'superman' who is never allowed to feel angry, sad or frustrated?"

I'll be thinking of Mohammed and Omar as I cast my vote for President Bush this November. We cannot turn our backs on them.