Freedom's Fidelity

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

April 9th Redux

This past Saturday morning, I rolled out of bed to a beautiful day and grabbed the morning paper off my front porch. The date at the top said April 9, 2005 and for some reason, it rung a bell. Why? Was it someone's birthday? In a sense it could be, perhaps this day April 9, will eventually come to mark the rebirth of a civilization. Saddam Hussein represented an obstacle that History was having a difficult time overcoming. I think back on that day, April 9, 2003 and I remember the big Iraqi muscle man hammering away at The Statue's base, but it wouldn't come down. So the US Marines stepped in and gave it a pull, they give History another push as it were, and the statue fell, and the people cheered. I'll never forget that muscle man, or the children pulling the statue's head through the streets, beating it with their shoes. Despite the difficult times ahead and the bloody insurgency that was to follow, they wanted this. Re-reading some of my thoughts, and more importantly those of some of the Iraqi blogs from last April 9, (and even those from April 9, 2003) reaffirmed this. You can find that post with all its links here. Read that first, then come back for a sampling what some of those same guys are saying this April 9.

Ali gets a bit poetic:

Two years now and "they" still wonder
And "they" still ask Was it worth it?
Was it right?

Two years and it seems to me Like it was yesterday
Two years and "they" keep trying
To silence the voice inside us
Yet it only grows louder

I was once free When I was a kid
But when I grew up
I couldn't be the man I am
I couldn't be the kid I was
And I couldn't flee

Two years since I finally became
The man in me, and the kid in me.
And "they" want to take this away?
"They" would have to kill them both first
The man and the kid
And turn the clock back around
And still "they" can't change me back

Two years since I stopped weeping
Inside of me, day and night
Two years since the widow
Found her husband's body
In a feast of death for the human death lord.
Two years since the orphan
knew Where his father lied
And now they finally have peace
And they have a future
No matter how painful it is to go on
And their dreams still go on

Two years since I started dreaming
Dreams that have a chance
And are becoming true
Two years since I regained my heart
And then I found her...
And she found me...
And the world looked beautiful!
And "they" think they can separate us?!
Think again, or keep wishing.

Read the rest.

Mohammed at Iraq the Model had this to say:

I don't think I need to tell you how close is the 9th of April to my heart. And now, after two years happiness is still the same for me; one person among millions who were freed on that great day.

The 9th of April had turned one of the darkest pages in our history and opened the door wide before the people and their dreams, just as when the idol was knocked down, fear and oppression were knocked down as well.

No day matches you, my brightest day. We will keep reaping your fruits while the entire neighborhood follow your light and wait for other days like you to sweep away the remaining rotten idols.

The 9th of April has proven that the free world now has the guts and the required determination to make the change and throw the legacy of the past century behind its back; dictators shall be endorsed no more and the struggle will continue until humanity is freed from its dark nightmare that lasted way longer than it should have.

The winds of change that have blown away the tyrant in Iraq have begun to reach more and more people everyday and the heroic stand of Iraqis is inspiring freedom lovers in Beirut and Cairo, Kuwait and Bahrain, Arabia and Damascus; people are screaming enough is enough; enough for tyranny, enough for repression and enough for slavery.

Some naysayers and losers will say that terror had marked the past two years in Iraq but we the Iraqis believe that terrorism is merely the defeated remnants of evil fed by the other tyrants who got terrified from the fall of their demonic master. They're holding onto a weak thread that will soon be broken no matter how hard they try.

Today we can see the idol of terror shaking and losing balance from the powerful strike Iraqis had given it on the glorious election day; the day when the world stood amazed before the extraordinary bravery of Iraqis defying fear and walking through bullets and bombs to say their word and give terror the purple finger.

The 9th of April paved the way for that historic revolution and I think this is more than enough to make us keep this day in our hearts forever.

We have passed the cruel tests of terror, we went to cast our ballots and we're rebuilding what was destroyed and we're looking forward to building more and more but most important is that we're going to write our holy book, our constitution, by ourselves to preserve our freedom and stop tyranny from invading our land again.

After decades of isolation enforced by Saddam on Iraq, today Iraqis come back to join the free world and catch up with what they had missed; slowly but surely.

Some shortsighted people doubt the outcome of this day and think that it's not suitable to announce it a success but we say to them:
You're free to think whatever you like, we got on the train, but you’re standing still.

Read the rest.

Finally here are some reflective thoughts from an Iraqi expat living in London.

My eyes filled with tears of joy as I watched Saddam statue being toppled. The dictator was finally toppled. Is this really happening or am I dreaming? My hands were still shaking, my eyes tearing and my heart was still palpitating. I couldn't work that day.

...That was the day that I will never forget, the day when Saddam was toppled, the day when Saddam fell. It was not the fall of Baghdad, Baghdad never fell, Baghdad was liberated; it was the birth of hope and the fall of the dictator, the fall of devil, the fall of the butcher of Iraq, the fall of god's most merciless creatures, the fall of Saddam.

It needed a push, but History is on the move. Could any of this have even been imaginable in the fall of 2001? Women in Afghanistan were subject to beatings for appearing in public without the escort of men, now they are holding positions of government. Transitioning from bloody theocracy to tolerant democracy was never going to be easy, but when I take a look around at today's Middle East, the relative (albeit fragile) calm in Israel, civil disobedience in Lebanon, successful elections in Iraq and Afghanistan, well, you can color me optimistic.

Here's to centuries worth of April 9ths!

posted by Paul  permalink | |