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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_biscuit who wrote (26994)	1/18/2005 12:42:15 PM
From: Rainy_Day_Woman	Respond to of 90947

his story is indeed over did you see the piece on Al-Khafaji now there's a brave woman and an Iraqi who dares to fight for the chance of freedom we have offered Iraq Tuesday, January 18, 2005 That insurgents are stepping up the violence in an attempt to destroy or negate Iraq's national elections is no surprise. Nor is it an excuse for delaying those elections. President Bush and Iraqi leaders are right to insist they be held as planned. As Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer pointed out in an Associated Press story Monday, even if the elections were postponed for six months, there's no guarantee the violence would wane. The insurgents might lay down for two or three months, then carry out attacks again,'' he said. U.S. and Iraqi authorities are doing everything in their power to ensure that Iraqis can vote in safety. The truth is, they cannot guarantee that some of those who go to the polls will not lose their lives to do so. Neither can they guarantee that those whose names will appear on the ballot will be alive by the time a vote is taken. One prominent candidate, Salama al-Khafaji, has survived two attempts on her life, the latest on Sunday by gunmen dressed like Iraqi police. She has canceled campaigning in some areas after those sent to check on major routes discovered terrorist checkpoints. It is intimidation of a magnitude that many of us in this country cannot appreciate. However, it is also an opportunity that many of us in this country have not appreciated for quite some time. Every individual who chooses to participate in the election on Jan. 30 will quite literally do so with the knowledge that it may cost them their life, or that of a loved one. It's easy to espouse the philosophy that one's country and one's freedom, is worth dying for. After all, we in this country generally think of it in the term of something the military does for civilians on a battlefield. We don't think of social gatherings, schools and polling places as battle grounds. In this war, in Iraq, that's exactly what they are. We face a different enemy in this country — apathy. Despite having every encouragement to vote, nearly half of us didn't participate in our national election in 2000. It seems almost hypocritical for us to insist that Iraqis hold an election in peril of their lives, when many of us here don't bother to participate in ours. It is not. While some of us may have forgotten at what price our freedom was bought, it doesn't negate the fact that it was paid for with the lives of our citizens and our soldiers. Terrorists may be able to kill and intimidate some in Iraq, but they can't kill and intimidate them all. The U.S. and Iraq are right to stand fast against that intimidation. damn straight lufkindailynews.com!2036226866?urac=n&urvf=11060699227920.8443407758767709