With all the press on the 1000+ americans who have died in Iraq, it is wise to know that 700 Iraqi policemen have been killed by the same insurgents killing our troops. Even still, Iraqi men keep lining up to replace their fallen brothers position. Let this post be a tribute to all the Iraqi's dieing and bleeding alongside our troops in order to keep Iraq free from the extremist thugs who would control it.
It's important to remember that, contrary to how it may seem at times, there are a large number of Iraqis who are doing their best to make their country a better place. May their sacrifice, and the sacrifice of all those who have given their lives in Iraq, never be forgotten.
You're right Birds, sorry for the hijack. These Iraqi forces, along with the Northern Alliance, have taken the brunt of the war on terror. Good luck to them.
They didn't die in vain. Here is a post from another board I frequent from a guy who spoke to a hometown Marine after he got back.
The guy was blinded and has had like 3 surgeries on his eyes and he is now seeing 20-100 (I don't recon this is good- he had thick black glasses on).
Got blinded by an RPG exploding right next to his head.
He thanked us for our prayers of course and then told us not to get disheartened by what we are hearing. He said the situation in the past 12 months has improved a ton- and right now we are giving them a helping hand instead of doing everything- they are taking ownership in their problems.
Said that when he was first over there that wasn't the case, and then got rotated home and heard all the reports and was bummed about heading back there, but that the reports were BS- the vast majority of Iraqi's like us, and not to get disheartened.
He also said that sending care packages to random soldiers was huge, and that people really enjoyed/got a kick out of it.
