IN THE NEWS
There are lot of different ways you can react to the news of the 35 people killed while lined up to enlist in the Iraqi army. It'd be legitimate to feel that the people who packed a car full of munitions and detonated it on a street, wounding at least another 130 bystanders in the process, are moral monsters. You'd also be justified to be outraged that, after having been attacked before, inductees weren't better protected from a lilely attack. Or, you might throw your hands up in despair and wonder what the United States is supposed to be doing in Iraq.
Today, I just feel like honoring the 35 men who died. As I said, they knew the risks. Anyone who works in the Iraqi government, but especially police and army recruits, have a target painted on their back. They still enlisted anyway. Some of them no doubt saw it as just a job. But that means that some significant number of them were willing to risk their lives for the sake of their families. And, probably, some number of them were genuine Iraqi patriots, ready to put their lives on the line in the name of a better Iraq.
I grieve for these men and their families today. I also want to recognize the significance of what they were doing, standing in that line.
Very well put, I agree completely.
Posted by: Oscar | 06/18/2004 at 09:38