The Global War Lords

'I feel happy that the different Iraqi parties got together in the reconciliation conference that took place in Cairo last November and started solving their problems, and I feel happy that I voted in the last Iraqi general elections along with other millions of Iraqis.

The ink on the nail of my index finger is fading away slowly, and the elections results are expected to be announced soon after a very slow finalizing process.

Whether we were against the occupation or not, and whether we celebrated the fact that Iraqis wouldn’t have voted in 2005 if Saddam was still in power, this doesn’t justify the illegal war and the huge cost Iraqis paid for it. It’s very important to have an elected government, but the price Iraqis paid to have their elections made it look like a small victory lost in a sea of failure and blood.

So if there was a question whether this war and occupation was worth the cost paid by Iraqis and U.S. people, I would say: “definitely not”. The right change should have come from the inside, and the right type of democracy should have emerged from a long-term grassroots movement growing within Iraq."
Raed in the Middle

Well, I would guess that Raed got his green card. Welcome to the US Raed, I hope you enjoy your say. glad to see you getting back to your old self, I was getting worried about you, I thought maybe we had lost you forever.