Happy Anniversary

5 years in Operation Iraqi Freedom Given the impatience of the American people, it is truly amazing that we have lasted this long. I understand that Barack Obama said this war was longer than WWII. well, longer than American participation in WWII - we entered WWII 2 years and 3 months after it had begun. in total, it was just a few weeks shy of 6 years. Does the senator need a history lesson?

Speaking of senators, we had Levin of Michigan, Lieberman of Connecticut, Graham of South Carolina, and McCain of Arizona here. good visits. good messages. busy busy place - then the VP was here and visiting up north in the Kurdish autonomous region.

the twentieth of march this year, Gregorian or common calendar, is the first day of the Iranian/Kurdish/Turkic calendar, birthday of Muhammad in the Muslim calendar, Purim in the Hebrew calendar, and Maundy Thursday in the Christian calendar. Not all these dates fell on the exactly same 24 hour period, but close enough that here we are focused on all of them. Iraqis had a public holiday for the Prophet’s birthday, but Maundy Thursday and Purim got little coverage. The small Christian communities here are divided between Western and Eastern observance of Easter, so for westerners, it is Maundy or Holy Thursday but for Easterners it is another 5 weeks. Why all Christians don’t celebrate Easter at the same time as Passover I’ll not quite figure out - given that the Last Supper was a Passover Seder, this would seem to make sense.

Now I’m listening to BBC criticize the United States and the UK for creating the refugee “crisis” in Jordan and Syria. Ahh, right, I see, the refugees who fled Iraq because fellow Iraqis were killing them or threatening them with death had nothing to do with it. Or is it that maybe Al-Qaeda’s efforts to foment sectarian hatred were successful, that Sunni attacked Shia, the Shia returned the favor and off the rfeugees went to escape retribution. Or, maybe it was the Shia deciding to kill Sunnis who they saw as the supporters of Saddam. Hmmm, maybe many of the refugees in Jordan and Syria are Saddamists and Baathists who are not welcome in Iraq now. Many of the most-favored former regime members who escaped are now in Jordan and Syria because as Sunni they are welcome, and as Baathists, they are welcome in Syria.

So, how is it here after 5 years? Well, compared to what? Compared to a year ago? Compared to the day after Saddam’s fall? Or maybe we should compare it to the days of Saddam’s rule? The days when people were dropped into shredders for offending Qusay or Uday? Or the days of gassing of Kurds? Or the days of war against Iran? Or death sentences for minor slights against Saddam? The days of Qusay taking girls away from their families for a few days and returning them when he was finished with them? So, let’s compare the situation now to the days of Saddam, the days when the elite were the supporters of Saddam, and the rest of the population had little, except fear and abuse.

So, five years on, was it worth it? Was it worth over 4,000 dead coalition soldiers and many thousands wounded? All the Iraqis who died who might not have died? Well, I guess that depends on whether you thought it fine for the world for a dictator as brutal and vicious as Saddam to continue rather than risk pain and suffering to undo his regime, let him continue or stop his payments to suicide bombers in Palestine and Israel, despair of or hope for democratic governance in Arab states, oppose or support open societies, seek or not care about integrating Arab countries into the global community. Worth it? Yeap. Necessary? Yeap. Overdue? Yeap. Difficult? Yes, but the best things in life are as difficult as they are rare. True freedom is rare, and it is rare.