They Came to Baghdad

Just before starting general boarding, the airline lady made an announcement from her counter:

“Will the gentlemen returning from Iraq do us the honor of boarding the aircraft first?!”

Three young men got up. They were dressed in civilian clothes and other than the close-cropped hair, there were few indications to give away the fact that they were members of the armed forces. As they slowly made their way toward the entrance gate with a small bundle of belongings each, every passenger in the lounge got up and applauded spontaneously. As they passed close by, I could see their smiling faces – containing a mixture of embarrassment (clearly they were not used to being a focus of attention), a spark of pride, a twinkle of delight in the eyes, and a good deal of humility at this small, unasked for, and trivial token of appreciation from a bunch of their fellow countrymen.

These guys don’t make a whole lot for what they do – to risk their necks to an unknown, ruthless, mindless enemy which abides by no civilized rules of combat! Most of these young individuals had no clue they were going to be sent where they eventually ended up. When the war started, they had no idea of how it will turn out. This whole issue of the war in Iraq was so contentious at the time. There were even some street protests, not to mention all that criticism abroad!

Yet they never complained. These guys and gals made a deal and they kept their part of the deal! For some, to the bitter end!

As we approach this day which completes 229 years of our own freedom, there have been close to 1,750 of these young men killed in combat in Iraq. The death of American soldiers in that theater of war is considered “run of the mill” news and does not even make it to the front page any more. They die in trickles, unsung heroes from various unknown parts of my country, unknown to anyone except to their locale – to their parents and immediate family members, to the high school teachers, to ex-colleagues at places where they used to hold employment, to their church pastors, their buddies, their friends, their girl friends, and sometimes their wives and children.

The interesting thing is – after a war that started on such a contentious note – nobody questions it any more! You will never find the family members encircling the chief executive to take “action” to get their loved-ones back – to put family ties ahead of the interests of the nation and what the nation stands for! Survey after survey of public opinion emphasizes that the average American, while not sharing the rosy assessment occasionally pushed by politicians, sees a need to stay put in Iraq, till the job is complete – till the bad guys are wiped out – till a new government which unquestionably believes in the dignity of the individual, and the freedom of choice of religion, and the freedom to express oneself, and all the associated freedoms – takes over. And provides an example to the rest of the region – and to the world at large – that yes indeed, it IS doable.

You see, when everything is said and done – this is a country of janitors! We won’t leave the clean-up job unfinished – we just won’t leave. PERIOD. Call us stubborn, if you will. We believe in the value of our freedoms and that of yours – whether you do so or not! And we are willing to put our necks on the line toward that – whether you are willing to do so or not!

And that 25-page document is more than a booklet designed to grace the bookshelf to gather dust, and we do not treat it like a doormat to be trampled upon and taken apart and tortured and disfigured and mutilated at the will of individuals and the power of bayonets. We swear and live by THIS book in REAL life– even though it’s nobody’s Book – just a creation of men – wise men for sure, but men nevertheless! It has stood the test of our times, the travails of our wars external and inside, the tumult of our societal changes, the avarice of our individuals, and it has served us well. It rules our laws – it IS our supreme law, and it lights up our path for us as we go about our humble individual lives.

Yes, we know all the pitfalls of our continued stay in Baghdad and other parts of the Middle East and the rest of the world! And we know all sides of this issue and that issue, and all the issues in between and without. And we know that more civilians have been abrupt casualties in this war than would have been systematic casualties over a long haul under that dictator Saddam, and we know that people there may not have the experience of ruling by majority and by reason and by consensus and that there are many, too many in the region for whom force has always been the way – the only way! You don’t need to tell us any of that – we have heard it all before so many times that we know it by heart!

We refuse responsibility for killings of civilians that the ruthless enemy conducts day in and day out – that responsibility belongs to the ones that commit it – the killers! And we refuse guilt by association for act individuals at this prison or that in capacities individual (and we fully hold those accountable in every way as our laws allow). And we call the bluff and refuse to swallow the lines that the local media – brought up on the same ancient diet of exclusivity and of all the hate that such exclusivity entails keeps feeding its more-than-willing audiences of individuals brought up in the same manner. And we refuse to buy the lies – the lies that try to tell us that the local population tolerating the local and not-so-local bullies means that we have to tolerate abdication of our own roles and indeed duties to the causes of freedom, in this region or the world at large!

And we know all about what you tell us that it will cost us – an arm and a leg and every other body organ you want to name! And as you tell us time and again, there may be very little for us in this – it may indeed make us the focus of hate in the eyes of a LOT of individuals – particularly those who, having been brought up on that diet of exclusivity based on differences, and a constant infusion of systemic hate, and a constant exclusion from ideas new and ideas original and from people outside and from people inside – have learnt little but how to raise rage and focus hate! And yes, there is a chance that when we leave, it might all come apart because perhaps indeed – as you continuously remind us – perhaps the “beej” (seed) of democracy must sprout from within and not from without.

And we are not dissuaded. And we do not quit. We just do not quit! Because even the slimmest, the most flickering of chances that this experiment in freedom may work – is a chance worth taking, no matter what the cost!

Leave it to the pundits to question and to doubt! These young men and women came to Baghdad to do a job and they will stay in Baghdad – and the rest of that region – till the job is done! They intend to stay and make sure that the clean-up is complete! We are a country of janitors – mere janitors, if you will – but not of quitters!

On certain days, I feel really proud of my “profession”. There’s a LOT of pride around here! Tomorrow is one of those days.

(Note: tomorrow will be July 4, 2005 – our Independence Day. This piece is a small tribute to his country from a worthless, no-name “janitor” on that very special day.)

(Originally posted on July 3, 2005. Only the numbers have changed – the basics stay the same.)