*******Update ********** Mohammed at Iraq the Model has another very moving post.

Let’s start off with one of the blogs of the month T.F. Boggs and another great interview with one of his fellow citizen soldiers; Spc. Jodrey. The post is titled Who’s Fighting For You: 2

Here is an excerpt:

Q: What is your name?

A: Spc. Jodrey

Q: When and why did you join the military?

A: Well my Grandfather served 32 years in the military. He served in Vietnam twice and always talked with pride about it so I guess it was on the whim kind of a thing. I talked to a recruiter one day and was joining the next.

Q: What do you like most about being in Iraq?

A: Well I enjoy having a part in history I guess, a part in establishing the future of this country. It makes me feel prideful about what I am doing.

Q: What do you think history will say about what we did here?

A: Well I believe it will say that we had a good part in, I guess, in establishing a good government. I think that the country does have hope and I think history will say good things about what we are doing. Right now a lot of people may not agree with what we are doing but the same thing happened in Vietnam.

Please drop by T.F. Boggs and tell Spc. Jodrey thank you for his service.

Next is another blog of the month Treasure of Baghdad with a very moving post detailing his families reaction and preparation for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“The day of your liberation is near,” Bush said three years ago

the post begins:

The day was Monday the 17th, time was 10 p.m., but the year was 2003. Sitting close to the radio, I was listening to the news on the BBC. Silence filled the room. My mother and sister were like me, concentrating on every word. Most of the news was about the coming war, later called “Operation Iraqi Freedom”.

“Bush had declared to the Iraqi people ‘the day of your liberation is near.’”, the BBC anchor said quoting George Bush’s words to the Iraqi people three days before the war. A moment of silence and a sigh followed. “It is going to happen. There is no way out,” I told my anxious mother.

Later on BT describes the moment they bombing began for them:

At 5:30 a.m., the war has officially started. “wake up, wake up,” my mother shouted to wake all of us. “Siren,” she said. By the time, I wasn’t even asleep. I heard it clearly but did not want to scare them and wake them up. Huh! They were all awake, I discovered. None of us was sleeping. I looked into my mother’s face. It was pale and full of fear and pain. Pulling the Quran, she started reading. By every Booom we hear, her voice goes louder. “Allahu Akbar”, she screamed.

To me these two bloggers, these 3 men offer an intense example of what is really happening in Iraq. Real people are making real sacrifices. Real people are suffering and dying. They are doing this for you and me, for the people of Iraq, to make this world a better place to live in. The words of Winston Churchill “Never was so much owed by so many to so few” definitely applies to our men and women serving today, to the coalition forces serving along side our military and to the Iraqi’s who are volunteering by the hundreds of thousands to serve in their military and police forces.

Something struck me this morning, for too many years this world has ignored the Middle East. In World War Two millions died and tens of millions fought to bring freedom to Western Europe and defeat fascism there. In our stalemate with the Russian Communists we simply ignored the Middle East. We were perfectly willing to leave them to their own fate to suffer under dictatorships and fascists as long as our oil supply was not interrupted.

If there is one good thing to come from the islamofascists attacks on 9/11; it has made us realize we can no longer ignore the Middle East.

To my friend Treasure of Baghdad I can only offer hope for the future and these words of solidarity and encouragement as I know more people he cares about will suffer and die before this war is over.

We are not ignoring you any longer my friend. Please do not push away the people who desperately want to help you. People I care about will also suffer and die. No doubt more sacrifice will be required of you, please do not forget that others are sacrificing for you as well. I know this has not always been the case but today Americans, Italians, Poles, British, Australians, and others, are dying for your freedom. This is the opportunity of your lifetime. To live free to live in peace. Do not waste it.

History is calling on the people of Iraq. Freedom needs the people of Iraq to be strong. The people of the Middle East need your resolve. The world needs you to be heroes.

The grandfathers of my country paid that price for me. Their forefathers before them paid that price for them and today we are free, we are safe. In fact many of us are spoiled and have forgotten the terrible price that freedom requires.

What will your children’s children say about this time BT? Will they say that you and your brother Iraqi’s faced the fascists and paid a terrible price to defeat them and win our freedom? Or will they say we live under the thumb of fascists today because our forefathers faltered?

Although we have not known each other long BT I believe I know your heart. I know you will not falter. Do not let the people of Iraq falter.

History has chosen you and the people of Iraq to make this stand now. How will you answer the call of history?