You can't help but....

....be inspired by the words of Firas George today. According to him, southern Iraq is doing quite well.

After spending five day in a business trip to Basra again, I have came home three days ago filled with admire ness and respect to the Iraqi southern society which I found very cooperative and marching towards prosperity with steady steps.

I don’t want to exaggerate but on a scale of 10, if problems in Baghdad evaluated with 9 then it’s only 2 in Basra, and I was in Basra a little more than a month ago and I felt difference there this week for better. What really made me happy is the respect IPs are getting there which means respect for the law. And the same is happening in Samawa, Omara, Nasiriya, and Koot, (all are southern cities). On my way to Basra and my way back I didn’t see any multinational forces or any INGs, all were policemen on all check points (about 11 of checkpoints), all asking for IDs and our heading and searching the car.

That's quite a bit different from the picture you usually get of Iraq, isn't it?

But these are the words that really inspired me.

Election is a fact and is going to take place on the 30th of January no matter what, and may be some of us are not going to see the day after that day and loose their lives electing the right people or at least who we think right people, but it will be the price for our freedom, may be we didn’t pay enough to remove Saddam, so it is the price we are going to pay that day, the 30th of January 2005 to overcome our fears and be free people who did pay for their freedom.

Its not a dreamy words and not banner words for election campaign, I am not a candidate and I am not going to be one but after few years from now inside Iraq or any where else in the world it will be very prodding to sit beside a chimney fire and tell the story of that day to a grand sun or two, or at least to remember that day a lone and remember that we weren’t afraid of a bunch of masked head choppers who wanted to take us to dark ages where we would be slaves of evil.

You have to admire someone who has decided in advance that they are willing to die for what they believe and is willing to walk into the fire knowing he may not come out.

The courage of the Iraqis should inspire us all.