They start lining up before the sun rises. Men from all walks of Iraqi life. Older men in their forties and young men who look like they come straight from the playing fields of their schools. They come for two reasons; money and pride.
They come to serve the new Iraq.
They come even though they’re targets in an extraordinarily bloody war where their enemies routinely cut off the heads of their friends and neighbors. They are targets and they know it. The terrorists drive car bombs into the long lines waiting to sign up for the police and security services and dozens of their friends and relatives are killed or injured.
And still they come to line up before the sun rises to serve the new Iraq.
More than 700 Iraqi police have been killed since the fall of Saddam. The training is hard but the pay is good. An Iraqi policeman can earn $165 a month, which is above average for the country. And with unemployment running near 50%, one would think that getting recruits would be easy.
It is. But not because of the money. And they don’t enlist to help the Americans. They do it because they love their country and want to fight for the chance to have a say in what goes on in their lives. Even though the terrorists target them. Even though they recieve threats either left on their doors or whispered to them by neighbors. Even though they worry about what would happen to their families of they got killed in the line of duty.
Still, they come. They come for pride and patriotism. And they come because they want to serve.
The USA Today article can be found here.
Great article here by John O’Sullivan about American policy in Iraq. Very thoughtful, very clear. Wish Bush could say it like this.
9/30/2004
WHATEVER IT TAKES
CATEGORY: General
By: Rick Moran at 5:41 pm
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