Sidebar from Christmas....

My brother-in-law is an Army officer who served last year in Iraq and is still active but now stationed stateside. The letter below is one he received last week from an Iraqi accquaintance after their historic elections. This is not media, left or right...this is not propaganda...this is not one of those chain letters you receive that you have no idea where they come from or if they are true... this is pure correspondence between two persons actually involved that I just happen to know. It speaks volumes....

Dear Sir;How are you? I wish you are well.A long time has passed before I hear fromyou.Today is the 15th Dec.Iraqis are going by hundreds and thousands to thevoting centres.It is a historical moments.If you see how the Iraqis worktogether with the Americans to secure people and their freedom to vote,youwill realize how great is your mission in Iraq.The Americans distributeAmerican candies and gifts to the Iraqi kids and even to men and women.Ourpeople is very grateful.Day by day ,the insurgents and terrorists becomemore and more isolated.Many of them returned to the lap of the free Iraq andannounced their repentance and are now fighting beside us against theAl-Qaida terrorists.They are doing a very great job.You remember the lastelections how the Sunnis rejected the election process claiming that theycannot vote under the shadow of the occupation,while now they urge thepeople to participate saying it is a national and religious duty.Many oftheir leaders adm! itted that they made a mistake by bycotting the lastelections.I think these elections will make four main blocks inside theparliament.They are :Al-Iatilaf (the Shia coalition),The KurdistanCoalition,Al-Tawafuq Al-Iraqi(Representatives of Sunnis)andAl-Iraqia(representatives of the liberal Iraqis).
Regards and Compliments to Sydney and Sharon.
Sadiq

May God Bless our troops and their efforts abroad. I am proud of them and of our nation for standing for freedom even when the going gets tough.