Something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. See this report by Michael Yon

Michael Yon : Online Magazine » Blog Archive » Come Home (http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/come-home.htm)

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Today, Muslims mostly filled the front pews of St. John’s. Muslims who want their Christian friends and neighbors to come home. The Christians who might see these photos likely will recognize their friends here. The Muslims in this neighborhood worry that other people will take the homes of their Christian neighbors, and that the Christians will never come back. And so they came to St. John’s today in force, and they showed their faces, and they said, “Come back to Iraq. Come home.” They wanted the cameras to catch it. They wanted to spread the word: Come home. Muslims keep telling me to get it on the news. “Tell the Christians to come home to their country Iraq.”

Michael Yon has been embedded in Iraq for some time .He manages to report on the news the rest of the MSM somehow misses.

Do you think that the sectarian rivalries were perhaps over-stated and intentionally inflamed by outside agitators ? Perhaps the Iraqi people are more tolerant then we have been led to believe ?

Wow, I don't really know what to say about this. I find it amazing that the Church has reopened, and that the Muslims came out in force to show support for their Christian neighbors. I have to admit that this post from Mr. Yon makes me question my own beliefs about rank and file Iraqis and their relationship with Christians. If both Christians and Muslims in Iraq are saying openly that there is no rift between them, that's a pretty good sign.

There was once a large Jewish community in Iraq. Much of the Talmud was written and debated in Babylon in the great study halls of Sura and Pumpaditha. The largest Jewish community in the world during the 1st -3rd Centuries was located in Iraq after the destruction of the Great Temple by Rome. The Jewish community there flourished for a time, and grew.

What if...

What if the Iraqis in Mr. Yon's story could be as accepting of the Jews as they are of the Christians. Maybe someday they can be.

That would be something to behold...

Elliot

Elliot

I think the displaced Jews of the ME should converge on Annapolis and demand the right of return and just compensation (estimated conservatively at $300 billion )

Tom-

As you know my brother's still over in Iraq completing his duty. He thinks he might be back in Germany to his base in December or possibly move back to the States, as early as next year. He's almost retired and wants to go from his MOS in engineering to recruiter for his last few years.

Thanks for sharing this news. The positive side doesn't get reported enough. I think the agitators are people, some news media, that didn't question the facts. Rather like most of the protesters, they are accomplices in a passive mode when it comes to not supporting our troops. But kudos to exceptional reporters like Michael Yon.


Bobby

As you may have noticed I use Michael's blog as my source for information as to what is going on in Iraq. He thinks the way things are going he will be in Afghanistan next year. I'm looking forward to getting the straight scoop on what's happing there.

“I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John's Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome. A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Infantry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John's, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope. The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers


http://gallery.michaelyon-online.com/images/photos/ThankPraise400.jpg

Wow, I don't really know what to say about this. I find it amazing that the Church has reopened, and that the Muslims came out in force to show support for their Christian neighbors. I have to admit that this post from Mr. Yon makes me question my own beliefs about rank and file Iraqis and their relationship with Christians. If both Christians and Muslims in Iraq are saying openly that there is no rift between them, that's a pretty good sign.

There was once a large Jewish community in Iraq. Much of the Talmud was written and debated in Babylon in the great study halls of Sura and Pumpaditha. The largest Jewish community in the world during the 1st -3rd Centuries was located in Iraq after the destruction of the Great Temple by Rome. The Jewish community there flourished for a time, and grew.

What if...

What if the Iraqis in Mr. Yon's story could be as accepting of the Jews as they are of the Christians. Maybe someday they can be.

That would be something to behold...

Elliot
Some interesting facts about Iraq:
1. The Garden of Eden was in Iraq
2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization!
3. Noah built the ark in Iraq (not Evan Almighty, the real Noah)
4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq
5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq!
6. Isaac’s wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq.
7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq
8. Jonah (from the whale) preached in Nineveh, which is in Iraq
9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel.
10. Amos cried out in Iraq.
11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem.
12. Daniel was in the lion’s den in Iraq!
13. The three Hebrew guys that were in the fiery furnace (along with Jesus) were in Iraq
14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the “writing on the wall” in Iraq
15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq.
16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq
17. The wise men were from Iraq
18. Peter preached in Iraq
19. The “Empire of Man” described in Revelation is called Babylon, which is a city in Iraq
Israel is the nation that is most often mentioned in the Bible. But do you know what is the second most mentioned nation? You guessed it….Iraq! However, they do not use the name Iraq in the Bible they refer to it as Babylon, Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Some interesting facts about Iraq:
1. The Garden of Eden was in Iraq
2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization!
3. Noah built the ark in Iraq (not Evan Almighty, the real Noah)
4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq
5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq!
6. Isaac’s wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq.
7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq
8. Jonah (from the whale) preached in Nineveh, which is in Iraq
9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel.
10. Amos cried out in Iraq.
11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem.
12. Daniel was in the lion’s den in Iraq!
13. The three Hebrew guys that were in the fiery furnace (along with Jesus) were in Iraq
14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the “writing on the wall” in Iraq
15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq.
16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq
17. The wise men were from Iraq
18. Peter preached in Iraq
19. The “Empire of Man” described in Revelation is called Babylon, which is a city in Iraq
Israel is the nation that is most often mentioned in the Bible. But do you know what is the second most mentioned nation? You guessed it….Iraq! However, they do not use the name Iraq in the Bible they refer to it as Babylon, Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Absolutely true.

One that you forgot is the fact that Isaac's wife, Rebecca was also from Iraq. Iraq was, once upon a time, the most culturally and scientifically advanced nation in the world. I have always had a great admiration of historical Babylon as a great power.

Elliot

Now that is impressive, worthy of above the fold front page news on every paper in the country. Have you sent a copy of that to Hillary and Schmucky? While you're at it, remind of the good news on the NY Times front page.

I just thought about it, and even if this made all the MSM the left would just say they got along fine while Saddam was in power. Why? Because they've said it before (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35086-2004Dec29.html). Anything like this is bound to be in spite of Bush in their eyes. How sad.

Steve ;

WAKE UP AMERICA blog has identified why we are getting so much good news from the war. It turns out there is a vast right wing media conspiracy that waits for the Democrats to go on holiday to flood the media with good news.

Wake up America: The Media "Conspiracy" Against Democratic Politicians (http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2007/11/media-conspiracy-against-democratic.html)

It's a plot to ruin their vacations!

DC,

Iraq is also the site at which the Babylonian Talmud was written and much of Jewish Law was codified in writing. Another little piece of Iraq trivia for you...

Elliot

Yes, most of the Iraq people are wonderful and want a safe and happy life with their own nation.

Hello tom:

Well then, it's time to give up this fantasy about Malachi and a central government. We should back up, what has already taken place on the ground - which is a nation divided into three ethnic regions.

Uhhh, then we can bring the troops home. Or line 'em up on the border with Pakistan, or line them up on the border with Iran, or line them on the border with Lebanon. With Bush at the helm, we got problems all over the place.

Why is he such good friends with Palestinian terrorists, all of a sudden?

Nope. We're in big trouble. The world is a much more dangerous place because of the dufus in chief.

excon

Yes it would make lots of sense to abandon the error plagued Iraqi government just at the time it appears they are getting their act together. I also note that all those folks who were opposed to democratic reform in Iraq ;presumably in favor of a jack booted dictator are now all for democratic reform when it comes to Pakistan. Maybe Barak Obama will soon call himself a neocon ?

Some more good news we don't hear enough of out of Iraq.

This is an excerpt from an Article by Amir Taheri that was published this morning (11/26/07).




* More than 70 percent of the cells created by al Qaeda in Iraq have been dismantled, with vast amounts of money and arms seized from terrorists and insurgents. The so-called Islamic State in Iraq, set up by al Qaeda in parts of four provinces, has collapsed.
* Iraqis who'd sought temporary refuge in neighboring countries are returning home in large numbers - 1,000 a day returning from Syria alone.
* Thanks to mediation by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Shiite coalition, the three groups that had withdrawn from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition government are expected to return to the fold.
* The British forces' handover of Basra to Iraqi authorities was completed without a hitch; Iraq's second largest city is rapidly returning to normal.
* Iraq's national currency, the dinar, is trading at its highest level since 1990 against the Iranian rial, the Kuwaiti dinar and the US dollar.
* Iraqi oil production is at its highest since 2002. Oil Minister Hussein Shahrestani recently notified OPEC that Iraq intends to produce its full quota next year.
* There's a rush of applications to set up small and medium businesses. In Baghdad alone, the figure for October was 400, compared to 80 last August. * The fourth American university in the Arab world, and the first in Iraq, has started work in Suleymanieh, close to the Iranian border.



As Taheri points out, this has to be countered by the bad news that continues in Iraq.



* All programs for training the new Iraqi army and police are behind schedule. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) hasn't met even a third of its quota. Only one Iraqi officer is training at Sandhurst, the famed British military academy. (Former Prime Minister Tony Blair had promised 22 places.)
* A new leadership elite has emerged locally, but isn't represented in central decision-making. In parts of the country, the officials in place are isolated, if not actually disliked, while unofficial leaders organize and manage some services that government should provide.
* The parties dominating the parliament have failed to set a date for local elections - without which full return to normal is unlikely. The former exiles who now dominate know they'd lose power in any elections to new groups led by homegrown figures.
* Prime Minister al-Maliki continues to prevaricate over draft legislation on oil exploration, production, export and revenue-sharing.
* Draft bills on limiting the effects of de-Baathification and facilitating the inclusion of thousands of former officers and NCOs in the new army remain backburnered. This gives the impression that the governing coalition, strengthened by the drop in violence, is reluctant to take measures that might loosen its hold on power.
* As a result of pressure by the ruling elite, the crackdown on corruption and embezzlement, launched earlier this year, has ground to a halt. Public perception of widespread corruption - coupled with the government's inability to provide regular services - undermines the legitimacy of the authorities.
* The government has taken few steps to help those driven out of their homes to return to their original places of abode. Most returnees are persuaded to settle in other areas. The net effect is to "ratify" the ethnic cleansing imposed by militants in the heyday of the "war of the sectarians."
* With pressure from al Qaeda and the insurgency easing, the ruling elites (even the Kurds, who'd hitherto remained united) have become involved in bitter power feuds. The United States is doing little to persuade the elites to spend their energies on more productive endeavors.
* The command-economy mindset, discredited after liberation, is making a comeback. The new budget presented to the parliament is based on the principle of a rentier economy: The state, thanks to its control of oil revenues, affects all major decisions. The idea of a modern capitalist economy, much in vogue in 2003-'04, appears to have been shelved, at least for now. * The authorities appear to be ignoring cultural fascists who are trying to impose their vision of an "Islamic society" through terror. This is especially the case in the predominantly Shiite provinces of the south, where the so-called campaign of "re-Islamicization" is openly funded by Iran. Friends of the new Iraq must impress on its leaders that these cultural fascists could, in time, prove as deadly as al Qaeda terrorists.



Despite the bad, however, Taheri concludes as follows:



IRAQ today is a hundred times better than what it would have been under Saddam in any imaginable circumstances. Statistics of violence don't begin to measure the efforts of a whole nation to re-emerge from the darkest night in its history. And in that sense, the news from Iraq since April 2003 has always been more good than bad.
What is new is that now more Americans appear willing to acknowledge this - good news in itself. As long as the United States remains resolute in its support for the new Iraq, there will be more good news than bad from what is at present the main battlefield in the War on Terror.



IRAQ: BEYOND THE DROP IN VIOLENCE (http://www.nypost.com/seven/11262007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/iraq__beyond_the_drop_in_violence_473299.htm)

Taheri seems to have a realistic perspective on what's going on in Iraq. But there are some who will never let good news get in the way of a propaganda campaign. Luckily, there are those who do the research to find the truth.

Elliot

Political horse trading just takes longer. The ground was not prepared for real political progress until the security situation began to stabilize.

Another news item that could be considered real positive is that the Shia in Southern Iraq are not happy with Iranian meddling .


The leader of a prominent group representing tribes in southern Iraq is calling for "the eviction of the Iranian regime from our homeland."


Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, left, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meet in August.

Sheik Jasim al-Kadhim, president of the Association of Nationalist and Independent Iraqi Tribes from the south, condemned what he called Iran's meddling in Iraq by those affiliated with Quds Force, an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The United States accuses the Quds Force of aiding Shiite militias in Iraq and has designated it as a terrorist group.

Al-Kadhim, speaking by phone Friday, said evicting the Iranian regime -- in particular from the southern Iraqi provinces -- is "the only solution and hopeful prospect for Iraq."

Al-Kadhim's comments represent another kink in the relationship between the two nations, who share the Shiite faith and whose friendliness toward each other has raised U.S. concerns.

Additionally, 300,000-plus Iraqi Shiites signed a petition calling for an end to what they call "Iranian terrorist interferences" and demanding the United Nations investigate the Islamic republic's involvement in Iraq...

The petition has the support of 14 clergy members and 600 sheiks as well as the signatures of 25,000 women, the release said.

"The most painful stab on the back of the Shiites in Iraq by the Iranian regime has been its shameful abuse of Shiite religion to achieve its ominous ends," the petition said.


Tribal leader: Evicting Iranian regime is only solution for Iraq - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/23/iraq.iran/)

Steve ;

WAKE UP AMERICA blog has identified why we are getting so much good news from the war. It turns out there is a vast right wing media conspiracy that waits for the Democrats to go on holiday to flood the media with good news.

Wake up America: The Media "Conspiracy" Against Democratic Politicians (http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2007/11/media-conspiracy-against-democratic.html)

It's a plot to ruin their vacations!

Of course! I can't believe I did not make the connection. Harry Reid apparently did, the Senate never went into recess (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/21/politics/main3530297.shtml) to keep Bush from making any recess appointments.


"We're preserving the Constitution," Senator Webb said, after the pro-forma session. "It's appropriate given how [the Bush administration] is abusing the confirmation process."

Well now, ain't that the pot calling the kettle black?

Does Webb think it reasonable to hold up so many appointments for the next 14 months ? I am convinced the Democrats want to shut down the government until a Democrat President is elected.

Recess appointments aren't good. They actually CIRCUMVENT the Constitutional process.

I know, I know, this ain't Clinton - but he did make use of the option 139 times and I'm sure his wife would do the same. But Webb must not realize it IS a constitutional power and has been upheld by SCOTUS since 1823.

Article II, Section 2


"The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session."

Excon, if the Dems would start upholding their Constitutional responsibilities, including bringing appointments up for a vote as they are supposed to do, Bush wouldn't have to use recess appointments. I don't like recess appointments either, but major judicial and embassadorial positions cannot remain unfilled for an 18 month period. Seems to me that it is the Dems who are abusing the Constitution by not bringing appointments up for a vote so that they don't have to go on record as having voted for or against specific appointments. What choice does Bush have? Leave the positions vacant? Nuh, uh, that ain't going to work.

Elliot

OOOPPPSSS!! Seems to me that Tom is right... recess appointments are Constitutional. My bad!!

Elliot

Tom, it was just a couple of weeks ago that Pelosi not only said "The President has ... turned a blind eye to what is happening on the ground," but also "This is not working. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. We must reverse it (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/11/dems-plot-anoth.html)."

To Pelosi, all of this encouraging news means we must reverse course. Krauthammer also noted the Dems reversal on benchmarks (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/22/AR2007112201089.html), how "the transfer of power in 2004. The two elections in 2005. The ratification of the constitution" were all irrelevant - but now "these benchmarks are paramount."

I wonder what their reaction will be to this?

Iraq to seek long-term US presence (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/5328898.html)

Knew that was coming . That is why we have continued construction of forward bases . I see this as a similar security arrangement we have had with other nations like South Korea. As the world knows when we are asked to leave we pack our bags and leave placed like Subic Bay(a naval base we invested billions in ). It will be up to the Iraqi government should we stay or go.

Knew that was coming . That is why we have continued construction of forward bases . I see this as a simular security arrangement we have had with other nations like South Korea. As the world knows when we are asked to leave we pack our bags and leave placed like Subic Bay(a naval base we invested billions in ). It will be up to the Iraqi government should we stay or go.

I want to see this issue raised in the Democratic debate next month.

:D My encouraging news from Iraq is my Lee J is coming home for Christmas, Dec 23 to Jan 2 and I have a care package with the items you all suggested started for him to take back with him.:D