On Mon, 9 Feb 2009 11:58:16 -0800, "Stuart Fields"
wrote:
I wonder why this hasn't hit some of the news channels. I know that I have
not seen this before.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.p...w&pageId=88218
You may have missed the
major network TV coverage of this historic event because it was GOOD
news that shows that WE are winning!
(from a friend in the Special Forces Network)
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 7:39 PM
Subject: Fwd: Good Things Really Are Happening In Iraq,Believe It Or
Not.
As Kelly states he "People are not given freedom & democracy, they
take it for themselves"......
MajGen John Kelly, USMC, Commander MNF-West, comments on the election
are copied below:
All Hands:
Major General John Kelly sends this Iraq election notice Classification:
UNCLASSIFIED
I don't suppose this will get much coverage in the States as the news is
so good. No, the news is unbelievable.
Something didn't happen in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, today. Once the most
violent and most dangerous places on earth, no suicide vest bomber
detonated killing dozens of voters. No suicide truck bomber drove into a
polling place collapsing the building and killing and injuring over 100.
No Marine was in a firefight engaging an Al Qaida terrorist trying to
disrupt democracy.
What did happen was Anbar Sunnis came out in their tens of thousands to
vote in the first free election of their lives.
With the expectation of all of the above (suicide bombers) they walked
miles (we shut down all vehicle traffic with the exception of some
shuttle busses for the elderly and infirm) to the polling places. I
slept under the stars with some Grunts at Combat Outpost Iba on the far
side of Karma, and started driving the 200 miles up the Euphrates River
Valley through Karma, Fallujah, Habbiniyah, Ramadi, Hit, Baghdad and
back here to Al Asad. I stopped here and there to speak with cops,
soldiers, Marines, and most importantly, regular Iraqi men and women
along the way. It was the same everywhere. A tension with every finger
on a trigger that broke at perhaps 3PM when we all began to think what
was almost unthinkable a year ago. We might just pull this off without a
bombing. No way. By 4PM it seemed like we'd make it to 5PM when the
polls closed. At 4:30 the unbelievable happened: the election was
extended an hour to 6PM because of the large crowds! What are they
kidding? Tempting fate like that is not nice. Six PM and the polls close
without a single act of violence or a single accusation of fraud, and
nearly by early reports pretty close to 100% voted. Priceless.
Every Anbari walking towards the polling place had these determined and,
frankly, concerned looks on their faces. No children with them (here
mothers and grandmothers are NEVER without their children or
grandchildren) because of the expectation of death. Husbands voted
separately from wives, and mothers separately from fathers for the same
reason. In and out quickly to be less of a target for the expected
suicide murderer. When they came out after voting they also wore the
same expression on their faces, but now one of smiling amazement as they
held up and stared at ink stained index fingers.
Norman Rockwell could not have captured this wonderment. Even the ladies
voted in large numbers and their husbands didn't insist on going into
the booths to tell them who to vote for.
One of the things I've always said was that we came here to "give" them
democracy. Even in the dark days my only consolation was that it was
about freedom and democracy. After what I saw today, and having
forgotten our own history and revolution, this was arrogance. People are
not given freedom and democracy - they take it for themselves. The
Anbaris deserve this credit.
Today I step down as the dictator, albeit benevolent, of Anbar Province.
Today the Anbaris took it from me. I am ecstatic. It was a privilege to
be part of it, to have somehow in a small way to have helped make it
happen.
Semper Fi.
Kelly
"If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution inhibit the government's ability to govern the people,
we should look to limit those guarantees."
Bill Clinton 1993-08-12