We are all Iraqis

A week ago, the world solemnly commemorated the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Northwest of Krakow, Poland, representatives of the world's most powerful countries gathered to mourn the millions murdered by fascism.\nWhile the situation in Iraq differs from that of the Third Reich, the conflict between freedom and fear is the most important factor in both. Ayman al-Zarqawi's terrorists are the fascists of today's world. By open admission, they make war on democracy -- an "infidel institution" -- by attempting to intimidate the Iraqi people with roadside bombings and videotaped threats. If unopposed by the large majority of Iraqis, Zarqawi would slowly but surely execute anyone who was not a militant Sunni.\nHitler promoted a similar agenda of racist totalitarianism, but the large majority of the German people neither recognized his evil nor took a stand against it. \nLast Sunday, the Iraqi people did not make the same mistake as the Germans. Standing strongly against fascism, about 60 percent of them turned out to vote for future peace in their country, according to the Iraqi election commission.\nGroups like Zarqawi's terrorists and the Nazis can gain and retain power only by manipulating fear because the freedom to choose always undermines the extremist agenda they promote. It takes the very brave to ignore the coercion and say "the emperor has no clothes." The Iraqi people did just that, realizing the moderate majority holds much more power than a gang of hateful thugs. \nThe long reign of terror under Saddam Hussein impressed the Iraqi people with the terrible dangers of a "fear society," as author Natan Sharansky terms "autocracies." Fed up with a small cohort running their lives and murdering their families, friends and neighbors, they turned out on Sunday to say, "no," to fear and, "yes," to freedom.\nFatima Ibrahim, an Iraqi woman whose husband, brother and father were slaughtered by Saddam when she was only 14, said, after voting, "Now I feel Saddam is really gone."\nWe are all Iraqis this week because we all aspire to the self-determination of our own lives. But the hardest part of freedom is recognizing and taking a stand against the evil that threatens it. Very few of us can attest to the amazing level of the courage the Iraqis displayed Sunday.\nYet I was also proud to be an American last Sunday. I'm forever thankful for my country because few other nations would take the risks the United States so often does in defending the freedom of other peoples.\nThe Iraqis recognize this. Sunday, the Iraqi author of http://messopotamian.blogspot.com expressed great sympathy for American losses: \n"The blood of Iraqis and Americans is being shed on the soil of Mesopotamia; a baptism with blood. A baptism of a lasting friendship and alliance, for many years to come, through thick and thin, we shall never forget the brave soldiers fallen while defending our freedom and future."\nOf course, many harsh realities might temper this celebration. The inclusion of Sunnis in the new Iraqi government and the government's ability to combat the insurgency will determine the eventual advance of freedom in Iraq, not to mention any future American-Iraqi friendship. But Sunday's events have given the best hope in a long time toward a positive outcome for both.\nThe Iraqi people have proven that, in the end, freedom will always triumph over fear. True, a society of fear did allow millions to perish in the Holocaust, but the Auschwitz commemoration is now held in a free nation because Poles were brave enough to stand against communism. We might have temporary setbacks along the way, but freedom's victory is assured at the end of the road.