I think it safe to say 95 percent of what we take for granted in America, people go without in Iraq. Yet 70 percent of Iraq's registered voters turned out to vote in what was for many the first legitimate election in their lifetime.
People walked miles under threat of death, dismemberment, bullets and bombs. Some carried relatives on their backs or in their arms.
At this writing, 44 persons gave their lives during the elections – some trying to vote, others trying to prevent them. There were graphic scenes of people actually forced to step over body fragments as they entered the polling places.
And through all of this they got it right the first time. No hanging chads, no complaints of not being able to read the ballots, no complaints of long lines, no complaints of disenfranchisement, no complaints of intimidation (albeit one would be hard pressed to find something more intimidating than a bullet or bomb directed at them) and no cries racism.
While here in the land of freedom, liberal race-baiters trading on ignorance and animus incited people to contend they were unjustly subjected to the aforementioned and more.
It is the tragic commentary of a people who "boast" the denial of privilege in a country where they are the recipients of free public schools, Section 8 housing, food stamps, an abortion clinic in every neighborhood, affirmative action and massive voter-registration drives (sarcasm obviously intended).
The Iraqi people lived decades with empty seats at their dinner tables because a Satanic despot and his evil offspring had imprisoned or butchered family members. Grandparents with missing appendages nurtured children because a crazed tyrant had ordered their arms and/or legs severed.
The Iraqi people listened stolidly while critics of the war pompously assured all they were not capable of voting, much less governing themselves. Literally hours before the election, liberals called for postponing the election, but the Iraqi people knew something the naysayers did not – they knew their resolve.
It is humiliating when one compares what took place at the polls in Iraq and the blame "whitey, Bush or conservatives" that takes place here. Those subscribing to the "blame everyone and everything for my not making it to the polls" or arriving at same unprepared should be ashamed when one considers what the Iraqi people went through to vote.
Iraqis were given nothing but the opportunity. They have had to suffer the ignominious insult of being blamed for American and foreign deaths, which are being committed by terrorists sneaking in from outside their borders.
America as a whole should be embarrassed that many of our college youth today do not know who occupies key positions in government.
We boast so much opportunity, yet so many of our people are either blind to it or have been persuaded to blame others for their failings.
Whatever one's concerns, fears or feelings in general of Iraq, one thing cannot be denied: Millions of Iraq's people stared death in the face and did not blink. This willingness is a repudiation of certain Americans who would rather complain than embrace opportunity.
Their resolve makes the race-baiting liberals in this country appear petty in comparison. I submit many today can benefit from the example of a truly oppressed people taking control of their own future – when someone's family member is willing to die for them, they show their appreciation by making certain it isn't in vain.