I am putting this up from Zen Traveler's blog. It speaks to the experiences he has had living so long with Iraqis in Baghdad. Given the conversations I have been having more and more often with friends and acquaintances I felt it worth reposting on my blog. You can link to his blog just below or off my link list to the right. Reading all of Eric's blog is a worthwhile endeavor. The following were his findings after having been invited to Iraqi homes in celebration of Ramadan, a Muslim high holy season recently.

- 99% of Iraqis are profoundly grateful for what America has done for them.

- Sadam had brutalized this country and had crippled its development for years to come.

- In the past people did what they were told or their families were thrown in jail.

- There is a massive brain drain flowing from Iraq to neighboring countries.

- Other Arab countries like the Emirates or Jordan have developed nicely while Iraq has gone in the opposite direction.

- There is hope now for the younger generation.

- All children are now going to school from 8:30 in the morning to 12:30 in the afternoon.

- They accept the violence as an aberration and go about their daily lives trusting everything to God.

That last statement I found poignant,brave. Hope for themselves is still burning with their candles and offerings at Ramadan in spite of the horrors they have witnessed or rumors heard--rumors often cruel enough to the spirit all by themselves. It's a treacherous time for non-Muslims to be in this part of the world,true, but it is also a treacherous time for Muslims who want to live peacefully with Westerners. We really don't fathom this aspect. Media has polarized this war to suit our fast food media diet.

Michael Yon, an independent reporter in al Anbar, or the Wild, Wild West, has described scenes of evil and inhumanity not on Americans, but on local Iraqis by Al Qaeda. These are the atrocities which have galvanized American and local Iraqi forces at war with one another less than a year ago in the same area.

AQ catalyzed that galvanization in the following ways. Food and water supplies were cut off to villages only to be reintroduced weeks later by AQ, who perpetuated the mini embargos using sympathetic locals. When they weren't decpatitating men, women and children and leaving the bodies out in the open to reinforce the terror, they used dead bodies to contaminate local water supplies. Soon, after softening up a village for a few weeks in this way, AQ would come in, under the guise of humanitarian aid, and begin filling the food and water needs for said villages which often culminated in feasts of seeming celebration. Families singled out for not likely being onboard with AQ party lines would have special lunches where they would be served their baked children to encourage them to rethink their stance.

If your desire to know what is going on in Iraq outweighs the effect it will have on your heart, Michael Yon or Michael Tottens sites will literally dilate your pupils from all the light they shed on this country and her burdens.

Iraq is not Jihad.

Iraq does not wish Westerners' death.

Jihad does.

They intend without apology to eradicate any and all who are not aligned with their principles. They believe this is demanded by their God and they are willing to die and kill to do it. It is plain and heartless and unlikely to ever change in this long enduring culture, but these Iraqi people--they still have hope, they must if they see what has come to pass there as an aberration.