For The Soldiers By The Soldiers

This statue stood in Tikrit, Iraq that was home to the US Army's 4th Infantry Division in 2003 . It was shipped to Fort Hood, Texas and placed in their memorial museum where it now resides. It was created by an Iraqi sculptor named Khalid Alussy at the behest of Major General Ray Odierno and his soldiers to honor the losses that our military has endured to free the Iraqi people from the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein. Khalid had previously been employed by Saddam to make the bronze busts of him that had littered the landscape of Iraq. What I would like to say is thank you to our soldiers for this statue. The selfless generosity of our soldiers touches my heart on a daily basis. Our military are the best of all that there is. As to Iraq .... you have a chance to be free and to govern in the spirit in which you were freed and that gift was given to you by our military. Godspeed and govern others as you would want to be governed. Statehood is a contract between the governed and the governing and I wish you all the best. It is now up to you. Will you be a client state of Iran or a stae in your own right ... only Iraqis can answer that question.

Iraqi Author 'Aref' Alwan: The Jews Have A Historic Right To Palestine

MEMRI

In an article posted December 7, 2007, on the leftist website www.ahewar.org, 'Aref 'Alwan, an Iraqi author and playwright who resides in London and is the author of 12 novels, states that the Jews have an historic right to Palestine because their presence there preceded the Arab conquest and has continued to this day.

In the article, titled "Do the Jews Have Any Less Right to Palestine than the Arabs?" 'Alwan called on the Arab world to acknowledge the Jews' right to Palestine, because justice demanded it and also because doing so would end the violence and the killing of Arabs, as well as intra-Arab strife. He added that such a move would also open up new avenues for the Arab world that would be more consistent with the values and needs of modern society.

'Alwan writes that the Arab League is to blame for the refusal to recognize the 1947 U.N. partition plan, for starting a war to prevent its implementation, and for the results of that war, which the Arabs call the Nakba (disaster).

He points an accusing finger at the Arab regimes, the Arab League, and the educated circles in the Arab world, saying that they had all used the term "nakba" to direct popular consciousness toward a cultural tradition that neither accepts the other side nor recognizes its rights - thereby promoting bigotry, violence and extremism. He also claims that there have been attempts to rewrite Palestinian history, in order to deny any connection between it and the Jewish people.

'Alwan contends that the "Nakba mentality" among Arabs has boomeranged, giving rise to tyrannical rulers, extremist clerics, and religious zealots of every description. In his view, the Arab world will never shed the stigma of terrorism in the West unless it abandons this concept and all that it entails.

To boost his claim that the Jews have an historic right to Palestine, 'Alwan provides an overview of Jewish history in the land of Israel. He questions the validity of the Islamic traditions underpinning the Arab claim to Palestine, Jerusalem, and the TempleMount, and presents evidence that religions that preceded Islam had conducted rituals on the TempleMount.

Wow, excellent article. Be sure to read the excerpts here

h/t LGF link viewer thingy.

Cross-posted at MPJ