In a very poignant and dignified message, Nasir Flayih Hasan tells us who the real resistance factor is in Iraq...and it ISN'T the terrorists...
Hasan writes: At last, a real Iraqi election, the event we have waited decades to see, is coming true. And now, as we prepare to vote, we remember all those who sacrificed their lives, their families and their youth, so that such a day would come. These words might look abstract to those who did not live under Saddam’s regime, but for us, who lost loved ones and suffered long years of pain and sorrow, they are not abstractions at all.
Now that is a unique perspective isn't it? A perspective from someone who has lived through the tyranny that we know as Saddam Hussein...quite different from the version we have been hearing from those that call themselves 'peace-niks'...they don't know from nothing...
The people who opposed the dictatorship for decades continue to struggle against it, even as it changes to secret bloody organizations using terror, assassination and hidden bombs as weapons.
Barbara Boxer, are you listening??
Barbra Streisand, are YOU listening??
Sean Penn...oh forget it...go back to your line....
The true “resistance” is not the bloody terrorist groups and lost regime murderers shown on the Arab or American media all the time, but everyday Iraqis. People who suffered for decades because of Saddam’s killers and now hope to have a good, normal life like other people in the world. People like my relative who was going to work to feed his family, and people like my friend who challenged all the threats and risks and decided to make his voice heard and his existence felt.
When the regime collapsed, most Iraqis believed this would be the start of a new period, one of peace and development, a period in which our people could take off the military uniform from their bodies and souls and start rebuilding their country. But now, faced with the challenge of terrorists who would try to destroy our chances for a peaceful life, Iraqis are feeling once more the call to battle, but this time for a totally different reason: a battle in the name of democracy and progress.
Listen to me...the terrorists are getting their strength from none other than people and sources on OUR SOIL...
Stop the music...mute the TV...pay ATTENTION!
We have brothers and sisters...fathers...mothers...uncles...OUR MILITARY BRETHREN...fighting in Iraq...and for good reason...
...only to discover that our OWN 'fellow citizens'...those that wrap themselves in "peace"...are the very ones that are giving strength and sustenence to the murdering, torturing, raping, terrorizing thugs that were left after Saddam was pulled from his spider hole hiding place and taken away in shackles...
Nasir Flayih Hasan closes with this:
Just as in the past, when the crimes of Saddam fed the deep hatred for the man and his regime in the Iraqi soul, so now the increasingly criminal actions of anti-democracy groups feed a sense of resolve in the breasts of Iraqis to fight for their democratic future. Today, I see how friends, relatives and acquaintances—some of whom have lost loved ones to the terrorists—are now rising to the challenge, not only to take part in the coming elections, but to participate in the future of Iraq’s development. I see how people who once seemed hesitant or apathetic about events have become aware that the battle for democracy and freedom is their own battle, and if they are going to have a better life for themselves and their children, they must take part in this battle one way or another.
This feeling extends not only to intellectuals but to the average person in the street, who has gradually become aware that the new enemy, the new disease that infected this country after the collapse of the regime, is something we must face, sooner or later. It is taking away each day the lives of more and more Iraqis. It is not going to stop and yet it must be stopped.
And by this spirit, and through this spirit, we Iraqis are going to participate in the elections, that political slap in the face for all those who support terrorism and want to postpone our destiny as long as they can. Our increasing spirit of resistance and hope for the future is perhaps the best example of how terrorism can never stop a people’s will to be free.
Surprised? Don't be...you knew it all along...
...you recognized it in our President...you see it every day...
...my only hope is that the Iraqi people will realize their dream...their vision...and one day be able to say "we are truly free"
...I will be praying...
DR
