That is quite an offer, Brian. I’ll certainly put in my request, and thank you!

Roger…

I can not imagine why you would be ‘racked with guilt’ for supporting the war to rid Iraq of a murderous dictator, that we knew supported terrorist goals, paid them, trained them and wished them success on attacking America. And, we knew he had plans to develope dangerous weapons. In the process , we freed millions of men, women and children that prayed daily to be rid of him.

I can understand that you might have been disappointed with the way things were handled by lying media – making things look worse than they actually were. Perhaps that contributed to your guilt – needlessly.

As one of ITM’s largest contributors, and first visitors, my greatest pleasure was seeing them get the opportunity to meet Bush. They deserved it, and they deserve the best support we can all give them.

Anyone who wants a .doc collection of Mohammed’s pre-war diary posts (re-posts) and an image of the USN&WR article, including photo, please email me. They are free to redistribute, per Mohammed.

brianh-at-ipkonfig.com

For me, I felt from the start when I read iraqthemodel that these guys were unusually wonderful, as human beings and writers. And their courage is beyond amazing, as well as their modesty. Although all of this comes across loud and clear in almost every sentence of their blog, so that in a way we don’t need to meet them, I bet nearly everyone who reads their blog would have traveled far for the privilege of meeting them. It must have been a truly amazing experience for you, Roger, and for everyone there. It’s moving even to imagine it.

I think one of the reasons for the deep emotion many of us (myself included) feel about the brothers is what several here have already written about–they supported us and cheered US up in times that must have been very dark for them. It was hard for me to continue to feel so gloomy and frightened when the guys at iraqthemodel weren’t. It is so paradoxical that it happened that way–who ever would have expected that three young men in Baghdad would have helped all of us so much during the aftermath of the war?

So, part of what I feel for them is gratitude. I think of them as the modern-day personification of people such as Patrick Henry and all those early patriots and thinkers who championed freedom. These brothers give the word “freedom” new meaning and new reality.

First, you, Roger, deserve our thanks for keeping many important issues in focus. With enough sunlight, knowledge can be had and truth be known.

Second, I am happy that you had a chance to meet with these Iraqi patriots, who have taken the risk to champion freedom and report on the developments inside Iraq with a different perspective. You earned this with your forum and desire to know the truth. It is very cool.

Third, you mention your struggle over your adamant support for the war when all of the news seemed bad. I think that many of us had similar feelings and thoughts during quiet, private moments. The saying “war is hell” has been passed down for a reason. American kids and innocent Iraqis have been killed fighting for freedom. (I say freedom because it is not just freedom in Iraq that is at stake.) While the war in Iraq has been just and necessary, I don’t know anyone with a conscience who isn’t strained by the human cost. In fact, I believe Mr. Bush feels this way even though has has been resolute in his conviction regarding the War on Terror of the war in Iraq is a part.

Best regards and thanks for the great site,

Barrett

Cole dislikes the brothers because one of them made Cole look like a fool a couple of weeks ago. Cole made a comment about Fallujah and cited some historical evidence to support it. One of the brothers, who was surprised at the comment, and doubted that there could be such evidence, looked into the matter and found that Cole’s “evidence” was a ridiculous Saddam Hussein propaganda film. That made Cole look like a careless poseur rather than a distinguished scholar. The University of Michigan should get rid of Cole and hire one of the brothers to replace him. Then yours would not be the only university with a sane person in it.

The last person I want at my back when the going gets tough is an elite liberal. Throw Sullivan into that group. Chickened out, the lot of them.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6700784/site/newsweek/

I, too spent a lot of time at ITM during the heavy combat phases. I wanted to get an idea of what ordinary people were going through and if our MSM was correct or just following the “if it bleeds, it leads” catechism. It was usually the latter.

Juan Cole had a particularly despicable post up about the brothers today, as Mr. Ghost noted. If I didn’t hate the 9-5 cubicle life so much, I’d quit academia and go back to it. But then, I think, there’s gotta be one sane person in a university, and I’m trying to fill that role for my university. I think it’s working!