Brief yourself on the events in Iran, the people, the issues that will likely effect all of our lives." 
"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail DoctorZin”
Posted on 11/28/2003 4:31:28 PM PST by nuconvert
Resolute Iranian Pilgrims Meet Awed G.I.'s
NY Times By IAN FISHER October 7, 2003
TURSAQ, Iraq, Oct. 3 — The fall of Saddam Hussein has undammed a flood of Shiite Muslims across Iran's rough border here into Iraq, driven not by the desire to fight Americans but by a religious devotion that United States soldiers here are finding hard to contain or even comprehend.
In just over a month, American forces have stopped more than 17,000 people sneaking into Iraq near here with the goal of making a pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala south of Baghdad.
As many as 1,000 cross on any day — wobbly old men and women, young mothers, babies — into the hands of American soldiers, who are awestruck by the risks the pilgrims are taking. Carrying almost nothing, they can walk for a day or more across minefields, mountain passes and the hot desert.
Soldiers and the Iraqi border guards who help them have found five bodies so far, and Iran's official news agency recently reported more than 100 deaths from mines, banditry and exposure.
(Excerpt) Read more at freerepublic.com ...
No more than devout Catholics making pilgrimages to Fatima, or Lourdes, or Rome. Imagine if those cities were cordoned off for 30 years by some nutcase with a private army; then they're suddenly gone, and the road's open.
Who among us wouldn't try?
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