The Cradle of Civilization Rises Again

Yahoo/AP reports on the killing by Al Qaeda of a Sunni policeman and four of his family members in Jalula, a city with mixture of Shiite and Sunni Muslims, 80 miles northeast of Baghdad. It also reports other death and on the total number of Iraqi casualties in the last few years.

While all this death is extremely tragic and is the very reason we must stay to stabilize this young democracy, buried down at the bottom of story is the interesting part of the article to me. As reported yesterday, many former Al Qaeda supportors are turning against Al Qaeda. In this article, we see another example of how far former Al Qaeda supporters have turned on Al Qaeda in Iraq.

"We consider our fighting against al-Qaida to be a popular revolution against the devil," said Sheik Mohammed Saleh al-Dohan, head of one of the groups in southern Ramadi, a city in Anbar province where the movement was born.

These are pretty powerful words. The fight against Al Qaeda is "a popular revolutions against the devil." Two words here are significant.

First, Sunni Sheikhs now believe they are heading a revolution. This is an extremely western, democratic term one would not expect from a Sheikh in the Middle East. First, it shows that over the years free, democratic forces have been in Iraq, our western democratic values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have been instilled in the Iraqi psyche. Secondly, the word revolution, although not appearing in the this part of the Declaration of Independence, is embodied in its introduction.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Secondly, and possibly more important, Sheikh al-Dohan believes their battle is a battle against the devil. He labelled Al Qaeda, and more specifically Bin Laden, as the devil. Understand, this sheikh is a Sunni labelling Bin Laden and Al Qaeda as an immoral, evil, and wicked organization. Quite frankly, who should know better than an individual who has seen his handiwork first hand for the last four years. Later in the article,

Al-Dohan blamed al-Qaida, which espouses a radical version of Sunni Islam, for bringing destruction to Iraq: "They made enemies between Sunnis, Shiites and Christians who lived in peace for centuries."

This text is also highly significant. In it Sheikh Al-Dohan notes that prior to Al Qaeda's interference, Iraqi Sunnis, Shiites, and Christians lived in peace for centuries. Due to Iraq's unique position in the Middle East, it has always been a region where many diverse cultures intermingled. Sheikh Al-Dohan is just reiterating Iraqi nature. Finally, Sheikh Al-Dohan states in response to Bin Laden calling Sunni's traitors,

Bin Laden and his fighters "are the traitors who betrayed the Muslim nation and brought shame to Islam in all the world."

So, throughout this article, we have a Sunni Sheikh calling Bin Laden, and Al Qaeda in general, the devil and a traitor who espouses a radical version of Islam and has brought destruction to all Iraqis, who have for centuries lived in harmony, and shame to Islam in the world. The only recourse this leader sees is a western, democratic ideal called a popular revolution.

Wow, how far we (America as a force of liberty) have came to change the mindset of a people in the heart of the Middle East who a few short years ago were paying Palestinian suicide bombers to kill innocent Israelis and attempting to get weapons of mass destruction to wipe the Great Satan (the U.S.) and the Lessor Satan (Israel) off the face of the Earth.

What must not be lost here is the fact that in the last four years, both American and Al Qaeda ideology have both been put forth and tested for Iraqis to decide which one they would prefer. America was going in as an underdog, to say the least, since its people were infidels and therefore their ideals must also be inferior.

However, this Iraqi, and from what I am seeing, many Iraqis in general, have opted against Al Qaeda salafist Caliphate and opted for those unalienable rights espoused by Americans, namely, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When pressed (as they have been), Iraqis will execute a popular revolution to ensure these rights are maintained.

Not only is a beacon of democracy now shining bright in the heart of the Middle East, but a democracy with the same hard fought unalienable rights (and therefore responsibilities) as America is beginning to emerge in the heart of the Middle East. President Bush and General Petreous may very well have created a future strong, staunch, and loyal ally who will be instrumental in assisting this nation in the Long War against extemist Islamic terror during the upcoming generation.

It is simply amazing how in a short course of a few hundred years, the young nation of America liberated its own people from tyranny, helped convert the tyranical kingdom which it fought against into a democracy which together, since the 1940s, has liberated hundreds of millions of people who are also liberating other oppressed people throughout the world.

The 21st century will not be a time for the rise of the ancient Chinese civilization which will threaten America and its allies. It will be a time of rebirth and greatness of another ancient civilization, Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, who will give birth to other democracies in all the Middle East.

Mesopotamia gave the world:

• Astronomy and our 12 month calendar
• Philosophy of logic and ethics
• Mathematics which gave us our 60 second minutes and 24 hour days
• Medicine in the form of diagnosis, examination, and prognosis
• Scientific study of our world around us
• Technology of copper making and glass making
• Agriculture by use of irrigation
• Religion - the first recorded

Iraq, keeping true to its Mesopotamia heritage, is on the verge of bringing the democratic ideals life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all people of the Middle East in the 21st Century. It appears Iraqis are holding true to another namesake, that of a "good Samaritan".