The Most Important Blog... Ever

We're a few days late, but we'd like to take a moment to remark on the wonderous triumph that is the American liberation of the Iraqi people. As our great President has stated, we went to war in Iraq, after all, not because of weapons of mass destruction program elements, but for the express reason that we needed to free the Iraqis from their ruthless dictator. Mission accomplished: April 9, 2003.

The photo above shows the huge crowd that gathered on that historic day in 2003 to witness the liberation of Baghdad from the statue of Saddam. Oh, and remember when they put a US flag on the statue for a minute? How great was that! I guess it didn't really fit in with the whole "we're not an empire" deal, but still, it was nice to see. And, by the way, the "huge crowd" back in 2003 actually was quite thin and the celebrations totally staged. Still, I thought it was a moving, stirring display of emotion from the Iraqis, thanking their American saviors.

So, on the anniversary of the historic liberation of the Iraqis from Saddam, as expected, a large crowd of Iraqis came out. Tens of thousands. I guess they just wanted to say "thanks." Although they were chanting "death to America" and pledging that they'd go fight the Americans tooth and nail if called upon, it's probably just a phase. They'll get over it soon. Two years on, I guess maybe we're not doing such a great job with our occupation. You know, getting the electricity back on and stopping the suicide bombings and shootings and stuff. Still, thanks to us, the Iraqi people don't have to live under the thumb of a brutal dictator anymore -- a dictator that killed tens of thousands of civilians during his reign -- although I guess estimates of the number of Iraqi civilians killed by our military range from 17,000 to 100,000 people. And I guess unemployment in Iraq is still somethere in the 70% range, but still, overall, what a great triumph for our President and, indeed, for our proud nation. Let's pat ourselves on the back for this great accomplishment!

And take a look at the crowds that showed up on the 2nd anniversary! They sure do remember how much we've helped them, don't they! Here's a photo of an actual large crowd in downtown Baghdad, taken on April 9, 2005 by the good journalists at the Qatari Peninsula Online.