Saturday, April 05, 2008

Unrecognized Heroes

Amid all the bad news surrounding Nouri al-Maliki's failed offensive against the Sadr militia in Basra, no one has noticed that about thousand people did the right thing. Maliki asked the army and police force to break a cease fire and attack their countrymen and fellow Shi'ites. About a thousand of them, including 100 officers, refused.

No one in the media will call these men heroes. For them, deserters on our side are always either traitors or cowards. Just as deserters on the other side are always loyal and brave. Fuck that. If you are given an inhumane, destructive order, and you decide to put down your gun and walk away, you are a hero.

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