Kathleen Parker at National Review writes about a close friend in Iraq and the current situation on the ground.
Obviously, with the situation continually improving, despite the gloomy headlines from the corrupt Western press, there is one presidential candidate who Iraqis hope to see in the White House next year:
In June 2006, she wrote: “Tell him (Bush) we are ever thankful for his ousting the dictator, but to forget democracy and announce martial laws, and put an end to the blood bath and misery.”
By April 2007, Mayada was critical of the Democrats and their promises to bring the troops home. Should that happen, she wrote, America “will leave Iraq in its current devastated state, and who knows what will happen in the area, and everything inside this red-hot region.”
Her contradictory responses to my continuous questions echoed the debate that has divided this country the past five years. A clear answer has never been easy to find.
That is no longer the case, in Mayada’s view. She gives credit to Petraeus, whom she describes as “intelligent and calm, set on winning hearts and souls.”
Today she insists that Iraqis who are not Baathist hope that McCain wins the election for one simple reason: “The man knows the job that has to be done in Iraq. If the U.S. pulls out of Iraq now or anytime soon, then that will mean one thing: al-Qaeda won the war.”
She points out that for the first time since Iraq’s monarchy was toppled in 1958, the country has a parliament, a free press, jobs, a true identity “and a better understanding toward where the country should be heading.”
The sectarian divide, meanwhile, is an artificial schism created by al-Qaeda and other non-Iraqis, she says. Many Iraqis are like Mayada, a Sunni, who have married across sectarian lines.
Hat Tip American Freedom
Omar at Iraq the Model has a different view on Iraq and the US elections.
