Iraq Votes: Profiles In Courage

A Day Like the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Today the Iraqi people voted for freedom. I will remember today much as I remember the day that the Berlin Wall came down...demolished from both the inside and the outside. It is a day that many felt would never come. It is a day that many did not want to come. But today it came. Freedom, autonomy and giant step towards genuine independence.

Iraqis vote!

The American and coalition troops represented the "outside" of the wall and the Iraqis themselves the "inside." Today, those "inside," with the help and support of those living in "outside" freedom, began the official and authentic demolition of the wall of oppression, tyranny and despotism which has confined them to hopelessness for the past 50 years.

For more pictures of the day's voting in Iraq check out Adam Keiper's slide show. Awesome!

Remembering American & Coalition Sacrifices

Much has been sacrificed to bring forth this great, wonderful and historic day. Over 1,000 American men and women, both military and civilian, coalition troops, too, and many other international civilians who had flocked to help build a new Iraq, hoping either for personal gain or simply to participate in creating history, have lost their lives fighting for someone else's hope for a better tomorrow. They have fought to protect their own countries' security as well, knowing that the more stable and free the world is, the more safe it is for everyone else!

Remembering Iraqi Sacrifices Under Sadaam

Not to be forgotten, of course, are the Iraqis whose lives have been lost in this struggle to be free. Over 1,000,000 Shi'ites in the south, either slaughtered as a lesson to others or mass murdered as reprisals for their revolt against Sadaam Hussein following the first "Gulf War" back in 1991. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds. slaughtered, some by poison gas, perhaps as a "Sadaastic" experiment to see how effective chemical weapons can be. The million plus Iraqis and Iranians who died in their own war, instigated by Sadaam in the 1980's might also be seen as sacrificial victims to a tyrant's twisted delusions of grandeur. And their are the Kuwaitis who were killed or who forever disappeared when they were invaded by order of Sadaam.

We must also, today, remember the women and children, tortured, raped, beaten, imprisoned and threatened daily as reprisals for a wrong word or a perceived act of defiance by a husband, father, or other family member.

Remembering Iraqi Civilian Casualties

And we must not forget the actual-count estimates of 15-18,000 civilians who have died as a direct result of the American/coalition invasion and occupation. While many of these deaths have been at the hand of the terrorist/resistance, it is clear that the large majority have been what has been euphemistically referred to as "collateral casualties." Their lives were tragically sacrificed by those who did not have any intention of causing them harm. Yet we must repent and mourn their loss and number them among the martyrs for freedom.

The uniformed troops loyal to Sadaam who died in combat must also be acknowledged with respect as so many of them fought honorably in defense of their country.

Forgetting the Terrorists

Those who resort to the extreme acts of terror, hiding among civilians and dealing random and indiscriminate death to foreigner and Iraqi alike, whose goal is only to destroy rather than to build up, who in no legitimate way represent the Iraqi people, these who who commit barbarous acts of videotaped beheadings, disembowlings and acts of indecency and desecration on the bodies of their victims, these shall forever be numbered among the citizens of hell, forgotten by both God and humanity. Damned by their own hatred and consumed by their misplaced passion. Never will any nation erect a monument to their memory. Indeed their only monument will be the rise of a free nation above their unmarked and forgotten graves, a monument to their ultimate irrelevance; lives wasted, thrown away; for nothing. Those who seek death will find it. It shall be their inheritance forever.

Purple Fingers

No comment needed

Tomorrow I shall color my right index finger blue as an act of solidarity with the people who voted in Iraq today. This suggestion came from someone who wrote the idea on Andrew Sullivan's blogpage earlier today. It would be nice if many others did the same. No doubt it will be a good conversation starter during the coming week! Speaking of colored fingers, Diary from Baghdad, a blog kept by an Iraqi civil engineer named Rose, had a very brief entry today. It read simply,

"I did it, I voted YES,YES, I did it. I have the courage to do it."

And with these words was this picture:

Choices: Theirs and Ours

The journey is not yet done. There are many more miles to go and many more decisions that must be made. But today the Iraqi people came to a crossroads. They considered the risks, the dangers, the uncertainties and the possibilities. And they voted their decision for all the world to see. Every nation that has a shred of decency and honor, every individual who has the love of neighbor in their heart, can do nothing less than to offer their full and enthusiastic support to the people of Iraq. To travel the rest of the journey alongside them will be a privilege!