An Election, The War, The Economy and The Ambassador

The Iraqi Election
Yesterday was an amazing day in Iraq, they held a third election this year, the first for the provisional government who would write their new constitution, the second to ratify that constitution, written in an amazingly short 7 months, and yesterday they elected their permanent parliament. How cool is all of that? Way. Considering that we didn't have a constitution in place until September 17, 1787, eleven years after we declared independence, and the government wasn't in place until March 4, 1789, I think the Iraqis have done an amazing and Herculean work to get a ratified constitution and an elected parliament all within the span of a year. Now, I do understand that communication and transcription technology is quite updated from the days of our own Revolution, but the wrangling over policy and law is unchanged from that time, people must discuss and discuss and talk and talk and talk until an agreement is made. That just takes a lot of time.

Below is a poll taken in Iraq in the days before the election. Very, very interesting.

Iraqi Poll

The War - Here, There and Everywhere
Just a few thoughts on the American response to the war and the results of the war itself.

There & Everywhere
Afghanistan - Is anyone else astounded that there is barely any news coming out of Afghanistan? Does anyone else understand how cool this is? If there were an increasing number of terrorist attacks, you can bet your sweet bippy that someone who hates the US would pounce on it and run with it. Actually, Afghanistan is doing quite well, women are able to vote, get an education, dance, own a business and all just four short years after a most repressive and brutal regime of Islamo-thugs tried to squish them flat and breathless.

Iraq - See above.

Egypt - Did anyone notice that Egypt held an election as well, that women also voted in this and that it was an actual election? Rather cool.

Libya - Remember that Qaddafi suddenly gave up his WMD's without a fight. Yeah, I remember that too.

Lebanon - The Cedar Revolution was crazy wonderful. Syria is out of Lebanon. Hurrah!

Here
One of the reasons I think Americans don't support the war and don't really understand it is that it hasn't cost us enough. NOT in lives, that's not what I'm saying. But in time, convenience, effort, even pocket change, we aren't investing in the War on Terror. We are Monday morning quarterbacking it. Now, do I think we could have vetted the intelligence more? Yes. But considering that for the last 10 years EVERYONE has said that Saddam had WMD's, and that small amounts of WMD's WERE found in Iraq after the war and that there is good reason to believe that the missing WMD's are in Syria, I still think it was the right thing to do. Both Iraq and Afghanistan are better off, as is the world. We don't see the cost in money because we already pay taxes, no one is selling war bonds. We aren't growing victory gardens, we aren't rationed for oil, we aren't sending our stay at home moms off to the Boeing factories. We don't have to, we are so much more fantastically wealthy than we were in 1941. In fact we Americans are amoung the 5% most wealthy people on the planet. All of us, except the poorest and they are amoung the top 9%. We are no longer used to sacrificing for anything, and so when it isn't immediately and easily granted to us, we not only lose interest, but we want to take our toys and go home.

Since my nephew just got back with nary a scratch from Iraq, I can't say that my family has sacrificed. My nephew in law got back a few years back from Afghanistan, also without injury. Are we more fantastically blessed than we deserve? Yes. I am forever grateful to have them home safe. I am also incredibly and deeply grateful for ALL the men and women who serve us in far-flung places, and I grieve deeply for the losses. All of them. But it's worth it. Freedom, liberty, justice, all three are worth fighting for. Don't forget that we have found thousands of mass graves in Iraq, many filled with just women and children, skulls with a bullet wound in the back of the head, that families in Kurdistan are just now getting word that their hopes for the return of The Disappeared are forever hopeless. Saddam himself was a WMD, he caused immesasurable suffering to his own people. It's okay to me that the Iraqi's want us to leave, that's great motivation to get up to speed all the faster, but what on earth do we have all this power for if it is not to remove murderous tyrants like this?

Hopefully we will go after that nut in Pyongyang and the monster in Africa soon.

The Economy
I'll come back to this. Suffice it to say, I think we are doing well. Overall, people, not everyone is doing well, but most people are.

The Ambassador
Read this for an update on John Bolton's work in the UN. YAY for Mr. Bolton. So far, my favorite diplomat.

The article is yet another reason I refuse to limit my reading of the news to one source. The MSM in this country would be one conglomerate source in my eyes.

A Deeper Magic

There are fables and legends aplenty for Christmas, St. Nicolas, Santa Clause, flying reindeer, elves and a magical ride around the earth in one night with lots of presents and just a little coal, and POOF! you have a childhood fairy tale. The problem is that this fairy tale is just that, a tale, and once you turn four, somehow you know that there isn't a real Santa, that reindeer don't fly and Mom, Dad and the Grandparents are really responsible for all those great presents under the tree, partly cause you specifically did not ask Santa for a 6 pack of tighty whiteys. So, somehow, Christmas looses some of it's magic when you find out that the jolly man with the supersled and the cold, cold workhouse packed with elf-slaves doesn't exist.

But there is a deeper magic to Christmas, one that doesn't unravel when you gain some thinking skills. This past Sunday my pastor, Mike Coleman, preached on the truth of the biblical story of Christmas, more specifically, the story of the birth of the Christ Child. We don't know precisely when Jesus was born, but we do know about when. We have the Roman records of the census call from Caesar Augustus, we know that the census was taken around 1 AD. We don't know what month or what day he was born, but we know he was born.

The deeper magic of Jesus birth and the circumstances of his conception are such that if we pay attention, we can only stand in awe. Or bow down in awe. In the very begining, at the creation, evil magic crept in to spoil everything. Even then the deeper magic of redemption was at work, the deeper magic was there all the time. God became man retaining his perfect holiness so that he could reconcile a wicked people to be his own. It happened at the right time and in the right location. Magic.