Wisdom from Iraqis

Here's a link to a surprising entry that appeared in a July 8 entry on the invaluable Iraqi blog, "Iraq the Model." It consists mostly of entries from exiled Iraqis as well as Iraqis still living in Iraq, and the entries are completely shocking in a pleasant sort of way. The respondents are discussing the recent events in Gaza, and the majority of opinions are not what you might think. Here's a short sample:

"I wonder how much time and blood it will take until Arabs and Muslims realize that the world is not the property of their ancestors and that God is not a trademark of their minds and that terror is a dead-end that leads only to more destruction.
Israel is a civilized country defending herself from barbaric savages whose minds are made of stone…minds that do not want to believe they are living in the 21st century.

What's happening to the Palestinians despite its cruelty is going to be a good lesson for them to learn they must clear their community off the hateful fundamentalist terror mentality…[Quranic verse] "God will not change people until they change what's within themselves"…but, will you change?!!"

Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi

Amazed? Check the link above and read the rest. You'll discover that about 98% of them are in a similar vein. (There are a few predictable rebuttals from non-Iraqi Arabs as well, but you have to take them in context.) The sympathy shown for the Israelis by these Iraqi Arab writers is intriguing enough. More impressive, however, is the already rapid internalization of the concepts of democracy and peace and how democracy is the only way to derail generations of useless Arab-on-Arab violence. Egged on by Islamofascists in the 21st century, this mindless violence is the real impediment to Arab freedom, prosperity, and happiness. That these writers have grasped this concept with such speed and clarity is as astounding as it is impressive. Although neither we nor the Iraqis are out of the woods yet with regard to the current violence in that country, statements like this stand as a powerful testament to a radical new idea that is taking hold in a once savagely repressed Arab country.