[1] Says Michael Yon [2]with this photo of his:
A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Cavalry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.
The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.
What you’re seeing here is Iraqis , Not Christian OR Muslim, but Christian and Muslim, replacing the cross on the top of Saint John’s church in Baghdad.
More than this; you are seeing people acting as Iraqi neighbors. Building a sense of community. Building a life. Building on the peace that’s been given them, by our actions.
And this is the big story in Iraq, today. It’s a story you will not see in the supposed mainstream press. It’s a story you’ll never hear about except in derisive tones, on Err America. It’s a happening that will never get any recognition from the Democrat run Congress. It’s something you’ll never hear the democratic party presidential candidates talk about. It’s something you won’t hear Ron Paul talk about. It’s a story that you’ll never hear from the any of the people who have been screaming for our capitulation and our withdrawal in that region.
The reason that you will never hear it from those sources, is that they know that had we listened to them, what you see in that picture would not be taking place.
This picture is an illustration of something that I have been saying here for quite some time. Peace is not an absence of war; Peace is a product of winning the war.
Winning the war is precisely what we have done. Now what we’re about, is helping with the rebuilding.
Lots more at Memeorandum.