I Wonder if You Know ...

[NanceGreggs]

I Wonder if You Know …
By Nancy Greggs

An Open Letter to the People of Iraq:

I wonder if you know that as you pray to your God, we pray to ours – and recognize that it is the same God whom we both beseech for deliverance from evil, whom we both pray to for peace.

I wonder if you know that as you mourn for your lost loved ones, we also mourn for ours – as we both wonder why those who started this conflict mourn for no one.

I wonder if you know that as you were lied to about such things as liberation and freedom, so we were lied to, as well.

I wonder if you know that we would see justice done to those who arrested you without reason, who detained you without cause, who tortured you without conscience, in the same way you would see that justice done.

I wonder if you know that we, too, dream of a world in which our children live together in peace, instead of a world where those who seek war between us would lead our children into battle, one against the other.

I wonder if you know that the shame of being a country whose citizens are defiled is equal to the shame of being a country whose government defiles others in our name.

I wonder if you know that as you have been taught to fear us, so we have been taught to fear you – and that the only ones to be truly feared are those who did the teaching.

I wonder if you know that we did not begrudge a cent of our money being pledged to rebuild your nation, and we share your anger over the fact that money found its way into the pockets of war profiteers and corrupt politicians instead of being used for its promised purpose.

I wonder if you know that as you ponder what kind of people would destroy your cities, your schools, your culture, your way of life, so do we ponder such things – as we both wonder why such destructive power was ever allowed to flourish.

I wonder if you know that despite the lies that are told about your plight, the truth makes its way to us nonetheless, and we are sickened by what we see, by what we hear, by what we know to be true.

I wonder if you know that we, like you, no longer sleep without nightmares, no longer see without skepticism, no longer hear without questioning, and no longer believe that those in power have your interests, or ours, at heart.

I wonder if you know that we, like you, desire freedom from oppression, freedom from hunger, freedom from war, freedom from the influence of those who would deny those freedoms to you, to us – or to anyone.

I wonder if you know that as you revile those who line their pockets with our money, those who would do anything for power over us, those who would seek dominion over our respective nations are as reviled here as they are there.

Most of all, I wonder if you know that you are not alone. I wonder if you realize that as the majority of Iraqis are good, honest, hard-working people, so the majority of Americans are as well.

I wonder if you know that we are fellow world citizens, preyed upon by those who would dishonor us both; those who willfully ignore our pleas for peaceful co-existence, those who pit us one against the other for their own gain, and those who would thwart the goodwill we would gladly extend to one another, for their own political and financial purposes.

I wonder if you know all of these things – and I wonder if you wonder about the same things we do.

Peace be with you, and with all of those whose hearts are in the right place, those who seek a solution to the violence and chaos born of greed, those who long for justice in the face of corruption, those who desire friendship amidst the willful creation of enmity.

Peace be with us all.

[IndyOp]

1. Nance. Thanks. Sadly, I think

it is too late. If they Iraqi people knew many of these good things about the US people at one point it just doesn't matter anymore. They have borne too much, lost too much and it won't ever be over.

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that his justice cannot sleep forever." Thomas Jefferson

:(

[NanceGreggs]

4. I live in hope ...

... that just as the truth of the plight of the Iraqis finds its way to us, the truth of the American citizenry's disgust with what is happening on the other side of the world somehow finds its way to them.

Let us pray that peace finds both of us, and that we manage to find each other.

[ninkasi]

2. Well spoken, Nancy

as always. Yes, let peace be with us all. Let the ones who wanted this war pay for it, in both money and blood, and leave the rest of us alone to live our lives.

[Christa]

3. Thank you

humbling to read.

And heartbreakingingly sad.

[patricia92243]

5. I wish there really were some way the Iraqi people could read this.

[Danascot]

6. I'm honored to be the 5th to R this for greatest page

[TomInTib]

7. Damn, Nance...

just...


damn...


Brava.

[xiamiam]

8. thanks...i wonder if we can ever be forgiven for being forced to participate in such a despicable

blunder...
you write so well...i wish this could be translated and sent around the world so that our fellow family of man understands how we truly (well, most of us) feel...

[understandinglife]

9. Brilliant - as always. Recommended.

[AZgirl7]

10. If they have no internet.....

........they don't know how we mourn for them and ourselves. Since our MSM doesn't cover our peace marches, or our adamant dissent, or our stifled calls for impeachment, how COULD they know? They watched as Bush was re-(un)elected, they watched as FOXNEWS and others beat the war drums. They watched US, as we watched our leaders act with impunity, and did nothing to stop them. The Muslims, the Mexicans, and other oppressed people around the world put us to shame. When they are passionate about their plight, they show up in numbers way too big to ignore. Instead, the Iraqi's have watched while we shop at Neiman's, drive home in our Hummers, and plop down in front of our plasma big screens to watch Hannity and tune in the $20,000 stereo system to Rush Limbaugh. WE know this is NOT our true picture, but how would THEY know? If we don't search for truth online and on progressive radio, Americans are in the same boat.

Nance, can you post this on some Al-Jazzera website?

[Drops_not_Dope]

15. I agree

The politics are probably very confusing. We know from our history, they lived in a dictatorial society. :hmmm:
However, I also feel that with the flourishment of the Press, especially print press, and limited access to CNN and Al Jazeera, limited due to lack of electricty and that bothersome war they're having, :sarcasm: they have a very good idea of what We The People want. To say otherwise IMHO is rude and deciding they lack the intelligence to see beyond the propaganda.
I do believe it is extremely self serving to want them to feel our pain, which both you and the OP suggests. If it's Title weren't An Open Letter to the Iraqi People I'd just think it's a poetic and seasonal post. BTW, they do have internet.

[AZgirl7]

23. Not In Our Name!

That is all we want them to know. No, I don't expect them to feel our pain, as it could NEVER compare to theirs. We just want them to know WE FEEL THEIRS! Yes, some have internet and when they get their 5 minutes to use it, they are blogging about needing help and which neighborhoods are under siege. They sure aren't using it to shop online. Gee, you have me wondering if UPS delivers to Baghdad? I guess if they COULD hear of what WE want, they see our voices as too little too late anyway. When your formerly tolerable life is reduced to lost hope, despair, deep grief, and raw fear, you don't care anymore about who's right or wrong. Did you know they carry on their person their death certificates, already filled out, so someone will know which dead body is which? Yes, they DO see past the propaganda. That's why they want us OUT! Now that we've invaded a sovereign country preemptively, why would the rest of the countries not fear our future actions? Maybe they will 'shock and awe' US, invade and destroy America, so we won't ever do anything like this again. How will the world ever forgive us our trespasses, when we did not forgive those who trespassed against us?? All that war money could have secured our borders and bought us a hell of a lot of safety.

[tkmorris]

16. Welcome to DU

Welcome home. It's great to see you.

:beer:

[flyarm]

11. iam sitting here with tears in my eyes, as i have often wondered if

the Iraq people know many many US citizens feel horrible about what has been done to them in our name...

My tears are for what you wrote so eloquently, but mostly for those who suffer at the hands of the mad men in Washington, who have committed horrible crimes against humanity ..on both sides of this corrupt and uncivilized war!

At this coming time of our Holy days..i just wonder how anyone can sit in church in this nation of ours and find solace..in what has been done to so many innocent lives..that have been snuffed out for greed and power..or maimed for life..how do they pray..and ignore these horrible crimes i wonder?

Their souls will need all the forgiveness they can pray for and only hope they will get !

I will never forgive..i don't have that in my heart..too much blood has been shed for forgiveness from me....

But my prayers and tears are shed for all who have lost the ultimate of all sacrifices.

fly

[NanceGreggs]

12. And now I have tears in my eyes ...

... after reading your post.

I have only one prayer for those who perpetrated this war, for those who condoned it, for those who used it as an excuse to maim, to kill, to humiliate, to torture: May God show you more mercy than I would - because I would show you none.

[ClayZ]

13. Thank you, Nancy! K and R

I hope that letter finds its way to the hearts of MILLIONS of people!

[democrank]

14. You`ve reminded me

of the times I`ve thought about how easy it was for Bush to rev up so many Americans for his killfest. So disturbing....the leader of the Moral Red State People opts for torture, killing and law breaking. We actually bothered to change the name of French fries while children were getting their skin melted off. Think about it.

[JeffR]

17. K & R for a wonderful & sad post

:dem:

[annabanana]

18. A Prayer for Peace....

is what you have given us, Nance. I hope they know.

(I have forwarded it, with a link, to Riverbend)

[NanceGreggs]

19. Thank you so much for doing that, annabanana! n/t

[PADemD]

20. Thank you, Nance

This brought tears to my eyes. Your post should be read in every American church on Christmas eve.

[PaulaFarrell]

21. They learned to fear us from our actions

"I wonder if you know that as you have been taught to fear us, so we have been taught to fear you – and that the only ones to be truly feared are those who did the teaching."

From the planes dropping bombs, the night raids, the disappearances, the abuse and wanton shootings. PLease, to try to imply that there is a simple misunderstanding between us and Iraqis is bizarre. We have devastated their country and there is probably not a single family in Iraq who has not lost a family member. We picked that fight out of nothing. Iraqis are 100% right to fear (and despise) us. It matters not one little but that Americans are on the whole nice people - now we just have to suck up the results of what we have done to them, and it's absolutely no use trying to plead that 'well, we didn't mean you any harm,we're just like you really'.

and I see no reason why Iraqis should feel any shame - surely that's our preserve alone?

you cannot equate the 'mourning' of americans for their soldiers to the grief of those families who lose entire generations in a single day. Most of us barely even know anyone in Iraq, let alone know someone who has died. As I said before, there is probably not one single family in Iraq which has not lost a family member.

I guess I miss the point of this post. I'm sure you mean well but I find it a trivialisation of the Iraqi situation. Until you've tried to get your kids to sleep with bombs dropping and gunfire and explosions, until you've had to identify your relatives in a morgue after they've been tortured to death, or perhaps dig their graves yourself as no one else is around to do it, then trying to equate yourself with the Iraqis is an insult. I know they're different. I know they've suffered in a way I can't even imagine. And if they hate me, well I guess they've got that right.

[NanceGreggs]

22. I think you have missed the point of this post ...

Yes, they were taught to fear us through the actions of our government and, at the government's direction, the conduct of our military - in the same way Americans are constantly 'taught' to fear Iraqis, and all other Muslims, as being potential terrorists. Thus the phrase, "those who did the teaching".

I in no way implied that what is happening is a "simple misunderstanding"; it is a very complex misunderstanding, in that the average Iraq citizen has no way of truly knowing that the average American citizen is not in one hundred percent agreement with the policies BushCo have adopted - torture, detainment without cause, rape, theft, et cetera.

It is the same complex misunderstanding that BushCo has relentlessly encouraged among us at home through constant misrepresentation of the facts, and by consistently putting forward the idea that it is "us" and "them", that all Iraqis somehow have an agenda that is based on a religion and a culture that promotes violence against all non-Muslims - a concept that is harped upon constantly by RW pundits, spokepeople, radio and TV personalities, and so on.

"I see no reason why Iraqis should feel any shame - surely that's our preserve alone?" My post clearly states that as citizens who have been defiled, the Iraqis feel shame. And they do; they feel shame when their daughters are raped, their sons are tortured - not because they are at fault, but because they have been put in a position where they cannot protect their own families from being subject to such things - any family member would feel that way in the same circumstances, that shame being warranted or not.

"You cannot equate the 'mourning' of Americans for their soldiers to the grief of those families who lose entire generations in a single day." Death is death, loss is loss. I would not deign to 'equate' what one family member feels as compared to another, Iraqi or American, or whether the grief is greater for a son lost in battle than the grief of a son killed when caught in the crossfire between warring factions. Such things cannot be measured.

If the Iraqis hate us, yes, they do have the right - they come by that hatred with just cause. The point of my post is simply the fact that we are more alike than we are different - despite what the Limbaughs, the Becks, the O'Reillys of the world want to preach. Does an Iraqi mother love her child the same as I do? Maybe more? Maybe less? Does an Iraqi man want to provide a better life for his daughter more than an American man does?

I have always said, and still maintain, that the biggest obstacle between the people of the world and lasting peace is our so-called leaders - religious leaders, political leaders, cultural leaders - who all have a personal agenda of accumulating power, influence, money. For such "leaders", encouraging dispute between peoples is their stock-in-trade, and they will do so at every opportunity - to the detriment of us all.

I know the Iraqis have good cause to hate all Americans. I just wish they knew that the average American is NOT in agreement with the policies of BushCo, the neocons, or anyone remotely like them. And thanks to the propaganda, the lies, the deceit, the death, the torture -- the incredible insanity of our so-called representative government -- they may never know the truth of the matter.

[dave420]

24. I wonder if...

Nancy Greggs knows most of Iraq doesn't have power or internet connectivity, so her "Open letter to Iraq" won't be seen by any Iraqis. And they don't give a rat's ass about what someone posting on a blog site thinks, either, as it's highly unlikely you have any idea what they're going through over there, and even if you DO know what it's like, that fact isn't going to stop the explosions and bloodshed. "Open letters" like this just serve to ease the Liberal guilt. awful.

[AtomicKitten]

25. If it were not for the massive protests here and

the resistance the left has waged, the world would think the entire US is comprised of morally bankrupt jackasses. Shock and awe was only the beginning of this round of assaults; they have been occurring incrementally with the debilitating sanctions that have devastated the people of Iraq over the years. BushCo has a toehold in Iraq with permanent bases, the oil already auctioned off to Big Oil from the get-go. I don't know how the people of Iraq will ever know how much we oppose the actions of our government but I hope they will know peace very soon.

K&R

[chill_wind]

26. Actions speak louder than words. We COULD indict, impeach, imprison

and thereby hold a few of our leaders and their many accomplices accountable. And there were many from all walks of American life who cooperated with, morally supported and otherwise helped facilitate this invasion and butchery, from the lies, to the torture, to the secret renditions, to the warrentless spying and political intimidation of those right here in the United States who would speak out.



Unless we do that, until we demand accountability, punishment and the restoration of the the rule of law right here in the good old USA, starting with Congress, and starting right with our own party, these are just nice words and we the people will remain complicit acceptors, good little Germans and facilitators of fascism.

Our party now has the power to make it real. Will we use it?

That is the only message - one of real and visible substance-- that will eventually matter to the Iraqis and to the world.

Will we have the courage to demand it?