Yesterday, we celebrated Thanksgiving. I didn’t hear a single explosion all day. To all those who stood guard yesterday, thanks for your viligance.
I owe many others thanks as well. Thank you to my wife for supporting me while I’m deployed. Thanks, Mom and Dad for being moral compasses. Thanks Dad Chance, for your books and other help. Thanks Tim and the rest of the crew at EMJ for the morale boosting hygiene kit you sent us while we were training up to come here. Thanks Doug for finding me the stuff I don’t have time to find and sending it over. Thanks to so many of you who’ve supported me via this blog and other lifelines. I appreciate each and every one of you.
In return for your support, I’d like to let you know what I’ve learned since I arrived in Iraq. From Iraqis, I’ve heard stories about what Saddam did to their families. All of them have been bad. One example that comes to mind is the electrician I met who said his brother was killed by Saddam and it broke his mother’s heart. He told me that under Saddam he made $3 a day and that now he makes ten times as much. He sees a positive future for Iraq.
From my leadership, I’ve heard how we are fighting and winning the battle to crush the insurgency. And I’ve seen that despite the bureaucracy the inevitably comes with government, the coalition is here to build, while the insurgency is only here to destroy. Yesterday, my generals served my evening meal. I wonder what Al-Zarqawi did for his troops.
Al-Zarqawi has no new construction projects. He doesn’t have engineers on staff to bring people without plumbing running water. He won’t be seen risking his life to bring electric service into Sadr City. His people don’t work late into the night planning how they can make life better for the Iraqis. The coalition does all these things.”
If you’re one of the people who think that this isn’t a cooperative effort, you’re wrong. In any given day since I’ve been here, I’ve met Egyptians, Iraqis, Polish, Iranians, Turks, Peruvians, Brits, Georgians, Gurkhas, Indians and others. Hell, I even met a Frenchman. There are people of every nationality here, doing every job imaginable. In ways small and large, all these people are doing jobs that will lead to one result – more freedom of choice for more Iraqis.
So on behalf of one of those polyglot people working for a better future for Iraq and for humanity, I appreciate your support. Thank you for standing behind the builders and not the destroyers.