Ansible-One

“All of us are happy — Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds on this day,” Waleed al-Bahadili said as he celebrated at the park. “The Americans harmed and insulted us too much.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090629/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

I saw this quote today and kinda chuckled to myself as I read through the rest of the article. Iraqis feel that they have succeeded in a great victory over the evil Americans. How interesting. Last time I checked, their elected government was running the show while our soldiers fought and died for the freedom of the people there. By fighting in Iraq they fought for us too. Yet, the new schools, roads, industry, services, and everything else American tax dollars funded seem to be invisible to these people.

I know that isn’t true for everyone in the country. But this kind of comment makes me believe Iraqis feel they are entitled to everything they have been given. How many times in history has one nation attacked another, wiped out evil and restored personal liberties only to pack up and go? In its wake, it leaves behind a well equipped and trained army and a new civilian infrastructure so the populace can get a jump start on renewing their lives.

I cannot imagine a single red blooded American that would take any of our loss back at the expense of Iraq loosing its new freedom. Yet, Iraqis seem to be fueled by this entitlement drive. If the USAF leveled a rotting school house because it was used by Sadaam’s military as a base, why should we rebuild it with state-of-the-art…everything? Because America is different.

Americans take the ripping the world gives to us and keep going. We understand what freedom is and what it costs. We truly believe all nations and all peoples of Earth should have that freedom. At least, we use to believe that. Our nation, built upon Christian principles is slowly rotting away like the Iraqi school house. As Christ fades from the mind of the selfish and personal liberty is chipped away, the few that still believe are holding to their faith. But when we are leveled, will there be someone there to help us back up?