www.albasrah.net

I am an American.
I am writing to you to express my
support for what you are doing and to tell you that
I support the Iraqi resistance. In fact, I believe
 that there are quite a large number of Americans who feel
 the same way as I do, to one degree or another,
 because they understand how criminal this war and
 occupation is and that America is solidly in the
 wrong.
 
 Many American soldiers feel this way, certainly,
 because they are deserting in record numbers and it
 isn't out of cowardice - in fact, they are taking a
 courageous stance by risking imprisonment and
 punishment and general rebuke in order to stand up
 for what is right and refuse to continue to fight this
 illegal and immoral war. If every American soldier
 laid down his rifle in protest tommorow, this war
 would be over.
 
 That won't happen, but if any individual soldier
 values their life and doesn't want to throw it away
 in the service of oppression and injustice all they
 need to do is to take a stand and refuse their orders and
 brave their punishment - a punishment that they can
 suffer with pride, knowing that they are doing the
 right thing.
 
 However, most if not nearly all of the people who
 think this way - even the civilians - do so in
 secret because they are afraid of being branded a "traitor"
 or losing the respect of their peers who might be
 offended by this stance, people who are in a state
 of denial and still refuse to acknowledge the
 outrageous lies and coercion that laid the foundation for the
 war.
 
 I came across your website because I was looking for
 information regarding the Iraqi "insurgency" because
 I am interested in hearing their side of the story and
 understanding better who is involved, what their
 views are beyond the obvious goal of resisting the
 occupation, and so forth.
 
 I am by no means happy that American soldiers are
 being killed in this conflict, but that is the
 nature of war, and our losses are nothing in comparison to
 the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have
 been riddled with bullets or indiscriminately blown to
 pieces by American bombs.
 
 The simple fact is that our soldiers should not be
 in Iraq and should never have gone there in the first
 place. Saddam was a dictator and good riddance to
 him, but there are other ways of dealing with such
 regimes and promoting freedom that don't involve
 murdering women and children or destroying an entire
 nation in the process.
 
 The villains who currently hold power in America,
 Bush and his cronies, launched an unneccesary and illegal
 war based totally on lies and fabrications in order
 to secure Iraqi oil reserves and tighten their grip on
 power in the Mid-East. This is blatant imperialism,
 there is no other word to describe it. It is the
 same thing essentially as when Hitler invaded Poland or
 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Bush
 should not only be impeached, he should be hung on
 the gallows and left up there to rot as a warning to
 tyrants everywhere. That would be justice.
 
 I am neither Christian nor Muslim nor Jew, but I
 respect the right of people everywhere to live by
 their own culture and to follow their own beliefs,
 just as I follow my own conscience, in peaceful
 co-existence with my neighbors. America has a great
 many faults, but one of the virtues of living in
 such a diverse society is that "cultural pluralism" is a
 fact of every day life and it is one of the greatest
 ideals of our country. We don't always abide by it
 perfectly (and it doesn't help when our government
 goes on witch hunts accusing Muslim-Americans of
 being Al Qaeda members) but the average American embraces
 this diversity.
 
 For instance, I was applying for a job the other day
 and was filling out the application in the office
 lobby, and while I was there I saw two Muslim
 gentleman who were also applying and at prayer time
 they paused what they were doing and got down on
 their knees and faced Mecca. And the wonderful thing was
 that all of the other people present, mostly "white"
 and probably christian, weren't at all disturbed or
 upset or surprised by this, no one laughed or stared
 - in fact, while we all went about our business the
 office became noticeably quieter out of respect for
 them. At any rate, I'm confident in saying that the
 vast majority of Americans don't harbor any hatred
 towards Muslims or any foolish notions about
 converting them to christianity - there is room in
 this world for all of us and each man will have to
 answer to God above and his judgement is the only
 one that will matter in the end.
 
 I'm not certain what exactly the primary causes are
 of the current strife and conflict that appears to be
 occuring between Iraqi factions other than the
 simplistic reaons given by our media - Shi'ites,
 Sunnis, and Kurds are the three major ethnic groups
 in Iraq and they don't get along for various social and
 political reasons. Certainly the situation is far
 more complex than that, I don't know.
 
 Well, you've seen the worst of America in the form
 of our soldiers and bombs. If there is one good thing
 we could impart to Iraq, albeit in a pretty strange and
 twisted way, it could be that we manage to unify you
 all - in resistance against the occupation. Because
 you'll need to learn to live with each other and
 embrace your differences and accept them in order
 for Iraq to experience a rebirth as a nation and become
 prosperous again. America was founded under
 occupation by colonial powers who ruled from afar,
 and then liberated through revolution. I invite you to
 follow our example, and perhaps we'll play the role
 for you that the British played for us in 1776. I
 will be happy in defeat, and the sooner our soldiers
 come home and get back to their civilian lives and
 families and no longer have to kill and be killed
 for unjust reasons the better for all of us.
 
 Best of luck,
 
 Ned .