Open Your Eyes And Ears

Last week Mel Gibson wondered why we are in Iraq. His precise quote was "why we went there, what we are doing there and why we are still there?"

Here's some information for Mel that came from a man who traveled to Chicago from Nebraska to register to vote in the Iraqi election. How is this for starters, Mel:

Every voter interviewed Monday -- from Shiite Muslims from Basra in southern Iraq who will vote for the Shiite parties, to Assyrian Christians from Mosul in northern Iraq who said they will be voting for the Assyrian parties -- said they supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam. All who are now U.S. citizens said they voted for President Bush.

"This was the best thing the United States did in the Middle East," said Ali Al-Saeedi, 43, of Nebraska. "Everything bad in Iraq was Saddam Hussein. If the people in the United States lived in Iraq for just one day, they would see."

"We know the Bushes," Al-Maleki said. "He delivered for the Iraqis. He helped us."

Many had horror stories of life under Saddam.

Al-Maleki said when he was drafted, he saw Saddam's soldiers kill a newborn baby boy whose Shiite father they were punishing for resisting the draft.

"The baby had just been born and they said, 'You look like your daddy.' They threw him against the wall. They killed the baby," Al-Maleki said.

One can argue about the preparedness or strategy employed in Iraq, but whether you are a handsome actor/director or the slovenly "documentary" director he claims a "kinship" with, it is a little disingenuous to feign ignorance about anything we've learned about Iraq since the war started. Or if you truly are that ill-informed, maybe it would be best just to keep your thoughts to yourself.