Free Iraq: the poem

Ali and his Free Iraqi blog are always interesting reading. But he's outdone himself with a poem on the second anniversary of the liberation of Iraq. The last two verses:

I see with my own eyes this other "they"
And I call them simply, Americans.
What are they paying me?
Oh, you couldn't afford that!
Saddam couldn't afford it.
Sadr cannot afford it.
"They" think any of these can?
Could their "they" even try!?

Two years and some are still
Trapped in the past
And some cannot withstand the moment
And want to arrive without struggle to a better future
While others just enjoy what is already better now
And work to meet the future, bettered with them.
Two years and they ask Should I be grateful?
Am I?
Do I even need to answer that!?
YES, and to the last breath!

Read the whole thing, even if you (like I) are not a big poetry fan.

How to talk to a liberal

Chrenkoff gives us a lesson in debating liberals.

Those were the days

At the Neurotic Iraqi Wife blog today has a special rant. I call it "special" for how it puts the lie to the conventional liberal mindset that the Iraqi people do not support the toppling of Saddam and the presence of the coalition forces in their country. Our neurotic Iraqi wife is not the only such voice, of course — but I thought this particular post was especially credible and evocative. The heart:

...but Im just angry and pissed off at the moment.It boggles my mind when people still wander whether getting rid of Saddam was worth it. It angers me more when I hear "Human Right" activists complain about the way insurgents are being treated on TV. Give me a F****** break will you!!!! Where were your voices when Saddam and his men took people in the middle of the night from their homes, from their beds, and tortured them??? Where were your voices when bodies were cut up and thrown infront of houses for their families to claim???Where were your voices when his sons raped and murdered girls???

Tell me where were your voices when unborn children were buried in the earth. Thousands upon thousands just disappeared. Where were your voices when the massacre of Halabcha took place, or the massacre of the March uprising in the South???

Your reports didnt save them, and now you come and say that its against human rights for those criminals to be shown on TV??? My God!!! Dont give me text book words, and talk about principles. Do these "suicide" bombers have principles by killing hundreds of innocent people inorder to get a few hundred dollars??? Are these the principles we want to teach the new Iraqi generation????

Indeed.

Galaxy...

The Astronomy Picture of thd Day: galaxy RCW 79, in a false-color infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope. The "bubble" at about 7 o'clock in the picture, with some yellowish stars within, is a "stellar nursery" full of "baby stars".

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Quote for the day

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

   Douglas Adams