Andrew Sullivan has posted the text of a letter written by an Iraqi newly returned to the country. This first-hand report offers a refreshing change from the relentless naysaying going on in the Western media right now. Read the entire thing.
What surprised me most was the amount of tolerance that all Iraqis had. They respected each other's thoughts and ideas like never before in Iraq, even when they disagreed. The only exception (of course) were Saddam's boys and the Baathis, who would throw accusations right left and centre, in an attempt to protect themselves and their interests. No Baathi will ever admit to ever being a Baathi. They all claim that they were forced into it. Some Baathis have grown beards and pretend to be Islamists in order to fight against the occupation that has effected their status. These are the people who have been bombing the electricity and water supplies, and oil pipes. They are very dangerous and despised by all that I know. They do not want life to improve for Iraqis and are behind all the existing unrest, including the lack of law and order. Others are more opportunists, and try to infiltrate political movements. People know them one by one, and no one escapes unnoticed.Posted by Alan at July 19, 2003 10:59 AMA lot of sincere hard work has to be done in Iraq, otherwise it might fall once more in the hands of the ignorant and the extremists. The real struggle today is not between Sunnis and Shias, nor Kurds and Arabs. It is between the secularists and centrists one side, and the religious extremists, part of whom are the Baathis who now wear clerical robes. This war, in my opinion, has to be fought now or else Iraq will be lost forever.
As for the occupation forces, whatever you might think of them and their performance so far, every one that I have met wants them to stay for the time being. Much worse will happen should they decide to pack and leave.
Via Andrew Sullivan