Not for Nothing, Take 8 (or so)

Remember this photo?

I wrote about it last Thanksgiving. I eventually ordered my own 3x5 print.

Michael Yon has other photos that get more visibility, but this one is still one of my favorites because the caption gave me chills. The good kind.

I was reminded of that photo, of Iraqi Muslims sitting in a Chaldean Catholic church in Iraq showing support for the church and urging Iraqi Christians to come home, when I read this story via The Tank. Not only are there Iraqi Muslims willing to sit in a Christian church to show support for fellow Iraqis, at least one Sunni sheik was willing to say...

"...that anyone who killed a Chaldean will be regarded as one who has killed in a member of his tribe (under the medieval Islamic concept of qisas this is a capital offense), and money will be provided from the Sahawa al-Iraq treasury to rebuild the churches and cemeteries that al-Qaeda destroyed. He justified this by quoting from the Qu'ran and stating that there should be no compulsion in matters of religion because truth stands free from error. "

As Steve Schippert at The Tank comments:

"So is there progress in Iraq? You betcha.

Armed Sunnis and Shi'a protecting Iraqi Catholics? Who'da thunkit?

Well . . . Who'da reported it for anyone to know?"

Well, now you know.

Our troops are fighting for a peace that permits some semblance of religious freedom.

And by fighting for Iraqis, our side continues to champion the ideals on which our own freedoms are based:

United States Constitution, Bill of Rights
Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Thank a vet. Their work is not all that is required, but it is - quite often - a minimum requirement.