On The Third Hand

Please read Humalia Akrawy: An Iraqi Woman Speaks Out. I’ll give you a teaser.

What would you do if you were a 22 year old Kurdish Muslim woman in March of 2003, when an army drawn from several countries invaded your homeland?

If you were Humalia Akrawy you would remember your brother, killed under Saddam – and remember how they sent back just one leg and part of an arm to demonstrate his death and their power to your family. You would look at your father, who no longer has full use of his hands after being tortured by Saddam.

And then, despite the disapproval of many but with the blessing and support of your family, on 23 March you would volunteer to become a translator for the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army.

But what would you do when Ba’athists and jihadists ambushed your car, injuring your brother and trying to kill you, and when they later killed your 24 year old sister thinking she was you – pumping 60 AK47 bullets into her body? Or when you received a letter saying, “We know we missed killing you, but we will be back” and then your home was blown up, injuring another brother and killing the Iraqi policeman guarding it?

Some would say she’s crazy. I would say she’s a member in good standing of the Brigade of Bellicose Women. In fact, I’ll nominate her for leader of it. She, and those like her, are why I believe we can succeed in changing the Middle East.

The taste of freedom is the one thing that can subvert any tyranny. Fear keeps a tyranny alive. Freedom will kill it. That is why Iraq has become such a battleground. It’s why we must stay until they no longer need us. If we leave now, the results will be as bad, if not worse, than the results of the mistakes of Bush’s father in listening to his “allies". And I will join the chorus of “It’s all our fault!” Because it will be.