Posted on 05/04/2007 8:02:37 AM PDT by IrishMike
Last weekend a traffic jam several miles long snaked out of the Mansour district in western Baghdad. The delay stemmed not from a car bomb closing the road but from a queue to enter the city's central amusement park. The line became so long some families left their cars and walked to enjoy picnics, fairground rides and soccer, the Iraqi national obsession.
Across the city, restaurants are slowly filling and shops are reopening. The streets are busy. Iraqis are not cowering indoors. The appalling death tolls from suicide attacks are often high because of crowding at markets. These days you are as likely to hear complaints about traffic congestion as about the security situation. Across Baghdad there is a cacophony of sirens from ambulances, firefighters and police providing public services. You cannot even escape the curse of traffic wardens ticketing illegally parked cars.
These small but significant snippets of normality are overshadowed by acts of gross violence, which fuel the opinion of some that Iraq is in a downward spiral. The Iraqi people are indeed suffering tremendous hardships and making grave sacrifices -- but daily life goes on for 7 million Baghdadis struggling to take back their capital and country.
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Those calling for withdrawal may think it is the least painful option, but its benefits would be short-lived. The fate of the region and the world is linked with ours. Leaving a broken Iraq in the Middle East would offer international terrorism a haven and ensure a legacy of chaos for future generations. Furthermore, the sacrifices of all the young men and women who stood up here would have been in vain.
Iraqis, for all our determination and courage, cannot succeed alone.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Wow. Great post.
I’m simply astounded it appears in the Compost.
The article is interesting, and is something the leftist media doesn’t have on its agenda.
More interesting are the comments to the article in the Post. It seems that he leftist media’s drumbeat of defeatism has penetrated the skulls of too many rather dim people.
review
Wow. Bookmarked
I agree with you...BUT
...it’s on page A23
BTT!
Good one.
These people need to understand that as long as people among them continue to act out against us as well as one another then their support in the US will continue to decline. It is their country and no one, and I mean NO ONE, can do it for them. We are now 4 years into this and while there has been progress, thousands of our guys have died protecting them from each other.
Enlist in the military, stop turning a blind eye towards people who don’t belong in Iraq, stop hating one another because you each believe in Allah differently, call in tips when you see trouble, etc.
It isn’t easy but Iraq doesn’t belong to us and no one can do it but them. I hope they can get it together for their sake and ours.
save bump
Ping!
Wow, I just read some of WaPo’s reader comments: liberal fury at its height (which means their trampled consciences have been tweaked.)
Great article.
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