January 06, 2006
Courage to Stand
Via the Washington Post:
The residents of Ramadi had had enough. As they frantically searched the city's hospital for relatives killed and wounded in bomb blasts at a police recruiting station Thursday, they did something they had never publicly done: They blamed al Qaeda in Iraq, the insurgent movement led by Abu Musab Zarqawi."Neither the Americans nor the Shiites have any benefit in doing this. It is Zarqawi," said Khalid Saadi, 42, who came to the hospital looking for his brother, Muhammed.
Muhammed, it was later determined, was one of 80 police recruits killed by the terrorist attack on a recruiting line of 1,000 Sunni police force applicants in a town that had formerly assisted, sometimes actively, al Qaeda terrorists.
But that is not the entire story of yesterday's suicide bombing in Ramadi.
After the attack, the prospective recruits returned to the blood-stained streets, reformed their lines, and continued the screening process to become police officers.
The media breathlessly covers the moment-to-moment carnage of the day. They cannot understand, nor provide context to, the courage of a growing, increasingly tough anti-insurgency movement in Iraq. It is one thing to talk tough, but another thing entirely to stand for your beliefs.
I truly believe the Iraqi people thirst for the personal and national freedoms that they see Americans enjoying. They don't necessarily like our religions (or lack thereof), but desire our freedom. They are also becoming much less tolerant of their radical brethren which is not surprising when you consider their newly gained freedoms.
Posted by: Old Soldier at January 6, 2006 08:19 AMThe French could sure take some lessons from these guys.
Posted by: Shoprat at January 6, 2006 07:30 PMThey want freedom so bad, they are trying so hard. They are dying every day for freedom. Just this week, dozens were killed at a police station - people waiting in line to sign up to be police officers. When the bodies were removed, the line formed again. What does that tell you? God Bless our troops and God Bless the Iraq's.
Posted by: scmommy at January 7, 2006 01:45 AMI appreciated hearing the rest of the story. Thank you.
Posted by: Suzi at January 7, 2006 05:03 PMAh, but in the Manila bulletin article it implied that the only reason all those men came back to apply for police jobs was that they needed the money...
Alas, they don't have it on line, but I believe it is this Reuter's report:
Reuters
Insurgents have often attacked Iraqi police and army recruits, who the Americans hope will eventually replace them in the fight against the largely Sunni Arab insurgency, allowing U.S. troops to withdraw.
Many young Iraqi men are drawn to work in the security forces by the promise of relatively high pay, although thousands have been massacred.
