Michael Yon’s iconic image of hope and unity in Iraq
On Easter morning this year, I linked to this article on Iraqi Christians praying for peace:
A new wave of explosions and shootings killed or wounded dozens of Iraqis on Easter Sunday as the Christian minority celebrated the holy day, praying that this would be the last year they live through the violence and terrorism gripping their country.
Early Sunday, thousands of Christians throughout Iraq went to Easter Mass and some churches were uncommonly full. In recent years, after attacks on dozens of churches, attendance had fallen off dramatically.
St. Joseph Chaldean Church in central Baghdad was jammed with more than 1,000 people. Many had to stand through the service.
Security was tight outside the church. Every man entering the church was searched. Police cars blocked both ends of the street to prevent car bombs.
During the mass, Shiite Muslim leader Ammar al-Hakim, son of the head of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite political organization, walked into the church. Father Louis al-Shabi, the chief priest at St. Joseph, escorted al-Hakim to a seat near the alter.
“Sheik al-Hakim came to join us in our celebrations as we mark this feast,” al-Shabi told the worshippers. “We welcome this visit as a display of unity among the Iraqi people.”
Al-Hakim responded, “We are all the sons of Iraq, and we should put our hands together to build this country. We are confident that the Iraqi people will come out of this crisis and our pain will end.”
Seven months later, milblogger/essayist/photojournalist Michael Yon has captured yet another of his unforgettable iconic images pointing to signs of hope and unity. Of the above photo, Yon writes:
Thanks and Praise: I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome.
A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Cavalry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.
The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.
Yes, Christian persecution remains rampant in the Muslim world and apostasy is still punishable by death. But there are glimmers of good news, and they won’t be broadcast on the nightly news or the front page of the NYTimes. Thanks to the lens of Michael Yon, we can see a fuller, truer picture of Iraq than the “grim milestone”-driven legacy media lens allows us to see. That deserves thanks and praise, too.
Yon’s latest image is spreading across the blogosphere. Glenn Reynolds has much more. Chris Muir’s Day by Day cartoon incorporates Yon’s photo here.
Support Yon’s independent journalism here.
***
The Anchoress:
“What I see in this picture is something more than a historic moment – I don’t even know if that’s what some would call it – I see the sort of thing people do when they are neighbors, when they are working together for their neighborhood, for the good of all who live there, and that to me makes it seem less “historic” than calmly, wonderfully normal, ordinary, sane and wholesome.”
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Michael Yon is the Ernie Pyle of this war … he is every bit as dedicated to getting the truth out about what is happening in Iraq as our brave troops are to defeating the terrorists and giving the Iraqi people a chance at freedom … God bless him and all he does and keep him safe …
Day by Day is using this as a frame in today’s strip.
- The Cat
Praise God! What a wonderful photo and sign of hope, thank you so much for showing this.
Hope breeds Hope!!! and Success breeds Success!!!
God bless our troops.
Move on Iran. Now.
Yon, Totten, Ardolino, Dollard and others do great work bringing the story to people that the media refuses to cover.
Amazing photos. Rejoicing and hoping with the Christians there!
Michael Yon deserves the Pulizter Prize in journalism.
Thank you, Michael, for being our eyes.
This would be a great pic to put on a Christmas card and send to all the traitors who said there was no chance for peace or victory in Iraq
This makes me think of the 5 stages of death (not to trivialize death in anyway here) 1. Denial – thinking the American people will keep taking these slights upon our person. 2. Anger – the various bombings across the planet to scare others into submission. 3. Bargaining – Hello….letter to the Christian community????? 4. Depression – The US WILL NOT stop. 5. Acceptance – I cannot ask of another what I would not do myself. I hope you all get my meaning here. God, i feel so stupid compared to some of you guys!!! (I mean that in a nice way) But if you think about what I said, maybe someone here can explain it a little better???? : )
#9
Great idea
Michael Yon’s photo epitomises the spirit of ordinary man far exceeds those in power. Our Congress et al should be humbled.
Actions speak louder than words, and pictures – especially those framed by Michael Yon’s amazing perspective – remind us that some actions exist which counter many of the words bandied about so much these days…
We hear a lot about the evil men do to men. The first news network to start reporting the good men do to men will be in a class by itself. I dare say, it will be the ratings king as well. Stories, films and pictures like this would be just what the Doctor ordered for BDS. Alas…
Fox broke the mold but has gone the way of tabloid news.
Still waiting on MNN (Malkin News Network). So is Michael Yon I bet.
Very inspiring. I’m speechless.
#10…ahem…you mean the 5 stages of grief. There’s only one stage of death. You are alive until you die, then you are dead.
Beautiful.
It’s a pretty cool photo. Me likes!
A comment on A Tangled Web makes an interesting point about one’s reaction to this excellent news.
HENRY94 says:
“It also provides a handy political self-test. If you find yourself instinctively disappointed by the improvement then your politics are bad and you need a re-think.”
Traditionally, Iraqis have been tolerant of each others’ religions – this is probably a sign that the country is on its way back to that state of affairs.
God Bless Michael Yon and God Bless our Troops!
#10, I get your drift.
If the Dems had their way the above probably would have never happened.
The American people (those who support our troops) need to stand tall.
GO US Armed Forces!
I am 100% done with our being in Iraq, at least as liberators.
I say we carve out an area of 1,000 square miles, near the Iranian border, with access to oil (to self-fuel the site, nothing more) and water, and declare that our “Iraqi Gitmo.”
Anyone who approaches the wire is liquidated. Anyone who flies near the no-fly zone is shot down. Any errant missiles that are sent into the compound are retaliated against 50 to 1. Model it after the Korean DMZ.
But no more American boys dying for a people that are too scared, indifferent, or malicious to do it themselves.
Koreans fought beside UN forces for their freedom. They were worth dying for, and we gladly put our own blood on that wire to this day. But the Iraqis? After 4 years – including liberation from a monster – it’s obvious that two drops of US blood are two drops too many.
So what do we do with the Pro-US Iraqis? Offer them a ride to the USA, where they can become LEGAL aliens. Or, if that won’t work, carve out another 1,000, or 5,000, or 10,000 square miles for them, immediately next to the Iraq Gitmo.
We split Korea, we can split Iraq.
And build walls, and arm them, and then leave them to live or die. Their choice.
Israel has done nothing but taken a page out of history when they built their extremely successful and cost-effective wall. Walls work to keep savages contained, as long as you have the military might and political will to back them up.
So we wall in our Gitmo, and we wall in the “New Iraq,” or whatever they want to call it, and we leave the savages on the other side of the wall.
Enough with trying to liberate Iraqi towns. Who cares? More importantly, who believes for a second that a people so internally divided are worth US blood? For what? To what end?
We need a staging area in the region? Absolutely. We need a killing field to bring these imbeciles out of the woodwork, allowing us to kill them in hordes whenever they concentrate? Sure.
Thus our Middle East version of Gitmo and/or South Korea.
Iraq has become another “drug war.” We find little feel good stories – like the one run here – and tell ourselves we’re winning.
“One more massive cocaine interdiction like that one, and we’ll have NYC drug-free…”
Does anyone in their right mind believe that? Ever? No. It’s the same with Iraq. The occassional happy-story does nothing to change the truth: these are a people who aren’t even homogenous as a people. They hate each other, they hate us, they hate themselves.
So clear 1,000 miles for a US Base, and let them kill each other.
Enough.
Michael Yon has done a fantastic job of covering the events in Iraq (good, bad, and the ugly). It is wonderful to see some glimmer of hope slow growing in Iraq. Now to take care of the helpful regimes in Syria and Iran through targeted strikes with standoff munitions to eliminate their leadership, then sit back and watch the oppressed masses rise up against the few that survive.
RobM1981,
They will follow us home.
Recall 9/11. They came on our turf and killed 3000 Americans. That day is ingrained in my memory forever. That’s why our troops are there.
There is also a “big picture” aspect to this war. These Muslims want to spread sharia law. They desire for Islam to dominate the world. They don’t just want their own plot of land so that they can live out their lives peacefully. It’s war they want and it’s war they have.
I don’t disagree with you about our losses. Everyone one of them are tragic. Everyone of them are heroes in my book. I’m humbled by their sacrifices. They got the call and they went. There is a quote someone who posts regularly here adds that reads “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.”
The above picture is great and should be celebrated.
You are aware, I hope, that Christians did better under Saddam than they are doing now. Saddam was mainly secular and had no issue with Christians. The religious parties (all major political parties in Iraq are religious) in control of Iraq now (to the extent that any Iraqi has any control of Iraq) persecute Christians.
The photo shows Christians repairing recent damage, not damage done by Saddam.
LGM that is true, but for some reason I cannot get the torture/death houses out of my head that we found when we invaded Iraq/Baghdad in 2003. Each neighborhood had one and were manned by Saddams men who kept copious notes of what the neighborhood people did and said daily. I personnaly saw the logbooks and the bloodstained walls. Yeah Saddam was a real standup guy.
Gator70, thank you for your service!
God Bless you.
Robm1981,
You apparently missed the entire point of this post. The point was that there is progress being made. They are seeing themselves as Iraqi’s first, and helping one another.
Jim C
I believe if a person, in an act of good will, helps build a place of worship for those of another faith, the place is all the more sacred.
Where is this Shiekh and why don’t we hear more from him? Why isn’t his voice offsetting mookie al sadr?
True bi-partisanship and a beautiful sight to behold.
I have not seen anything on the website about this, but today is the last day to vote for the weblogawards and Michelle is in 2 categories.
http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/best-blog-1.php
http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/best-conservative-blog-1.php
In addition Michael Yon is up for an award also.
http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/best-military-blog-1.php
thanks for the reminder pressto.
On November 8th, 2007 at 9:39 am, Gator70 said:
#26
Generally, we don’t feed the trolls. We love a good slap-down of one, great job.
I’m with 30, thanks for your service and GOD Bless!
Absolutely awesome!
I’ve kept two newspapers for posterity (they may become obsolete!) The first is dtd 12/15/2003 with Saddam’s picture on the front page as he emerged from his hole in the ground. The second is dtd 6/9/2006 and the headine is “Zarqawi is dead”. Our grandson was in Iraq then and is there now.
With that wonderful picture as evidence, real progress is being made. (Will watch for it in the newspaper!?)
Thanks MM, Yon and all who believe we’re doing the right thing for the right reasons. It’s working.
Waterboarding is torture. This picture is an attempt to put lipstick on a pig.
Ah, the “Christian” cannot see good from this – go figure.
well-said Soap!
Thanks 30.
Boy is just here to give us a bad name. To be expected when the door is left open – flys will come in.
They expose themselves in time. Boy waisted none.
Hey Michelle congrats on being selected as a Calendar Girl in the Great American Conservative Women Calendar
Yep, congrats!
One ugh thing though – pink sweater.
Ugh – anything but pink – LOL
Soap: They come in all shapes and sizes…
Why is Christian in quotes?
Congrats, Michelle. Well-deserved!
When I first saw that picture it immediately reminded me of this…
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/at0005.11s.jpg
That famous flag raising photo at Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima. The struggle and toils it took just to have that opportunity to raise that flag. Only this time, in Iraq, it was a cross.
The battle isn’t over but people are starting to breathe a bit easier…just like guys on Iwo Jima.
There is no comparison between this and Iwo Jima. None.
I saw a movie that claimed the Iwo Jima picture was a hoax anyway.
AHEM….
Time to VOTE!
BLOGAWARDS
southernboy #46 said: “There is no comparison between this and Iwo Jima. None.”
Iraq and Iwo both begin with an “I”.. that’s one.
Ther are many other apt comparisons too, as there are in any armed conflict where brave people fight for something they believe in (and numerous other reasons)….
Oh and most notably, in both pictures, the participants are risking being shot at…and we can be thankful that the risk they’re taking is much less than it would have been a year ago… evidence that we are prevailing…
I agree, waterboarding is torture. But then, how else are you going to get information out of the enemy? Reason with them? Beg them?
While waterboarding does cause discomfort, it is nothing compared to other torture techniques that are widely used around the world, for example by gangters and Al-Qaeda.
Even the protesters understand that waterboarding is a very mild form of torture. Why else would they be willing to enact it in public? For example, crucifixion was considered such taboo, that it would never ever be mentioned in polite company, much less reenacted. “The
very word ‘cross’ should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman
citizen, but from his thoughts, his eyes, his ears.” —
Cicero, “The Speech In Defence of Gaius Rabirius,”
In my book, the actions of the protesters are inconsistent with their own world view.
#47 You get your information from movies? That explains a lot.
I am glad Pres. Bush had the “cajones” to send our troops to finally get rid of Saddam. He did the right thing no matter what the MSM says or writes.
This photo should win the Pulitzer!
It is humbling to see and hear about Christians and Muslims working together.
There is a church nearby us here in Peoria, AZ that took down their cross from display because they were afraid it would offend people in the neighborhood who weren’t Christian.
These people in Baghdad showed more respect for the cross of Christ than American Christian churches.
God bless our troops….God bless Pres. Bush…and God bless Michael Yon for all he does.
Yes.
Gee, and what do you think interrogation involves? Not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, are we?
If it involves waterboarding, then it is torture.
Who would Jesus torture?
Isn’t it obvious? By offering them tea and crumpets.
LOL
JimC,
No, I didn’t miss it – I dispute it. I’m sure that these people do, in fact, view themselves as Iraqi’s, and they see progress, etc.
Just like I believe that every time the police intercept 5 kilos of heroin, there is a drug dealer or two who feel the pinch, and there is a politician who actually believes we have “turned the corner, and are finally winning the war on drugs.”
It makes for good press, and it it technically accurate to say “this hurts drug dealers.” The trouble is, it’s moot. In the greater scheme of things the interdiction does nothing.
We are 4+ years into this, folks, and the death toll this year, 2007, is the highest ever. And we have 2 months left to continue adding bodies to the count. By the time we pop the champagne corks to welcome in 2008 approximately 1,000 of the *finest* American will be dead. Not wounded, mind you – I’m just talking about KIA.
For what? To secure a piece of Iraq? Are you kidding me?
The Iraq War is like the drug war – unwinnable, and for many of the same reasons. The majority of people who are actively engaged in it *want* it the way it is, while the few that oppose it have been given nowhere near the authority or power to get the job done.
And the whole “they will follow us home” line is why I want an Iraq Gitmo. Give them a lightning rod to smash against – but make it much safer for our people to kill them without being exposed to IED’s, etc.
Jihadists will no more accept the United States claiming sovereignty over 1,000 square miles of their land than they will accept Jesus Christ. They will attack an Iraq Gitmo as hard, if not harder, than they attack our brave men now.
I’m fine with that. Welcome to the kill zone…
I believe you, lgm and rusty are the same person!
I would suggest just ignoring southernboy but he doesn’t seem to take a hint.
Amazing. This is such a beautiful story, those that hate must mention unrelated stuff. Yes the sunrise is nice, but what about skin cancer!
Rob, your are obviously passionate about getting out of Iraq, Everyone wants us out of Iraq but the devil is in the details. The question is, when can we afford to withdraw without forfeiting everything we have gained? And, we have gained. You are ignoring the big picture. This is a global ideological conflict which we are trying to check, or at least stalemate, in Iraq. It is not that they will “follow us home”. They are already here. Our best bet is to hang tough until Iraq demonstrates it can deal with the eternal Sunni-Shiah conflict and outside radical Islamists and establish a relatively corruption free national government, assuming such a government is possible in any nation. Every death is regrettable but, given its duration, this has been an extremely low casualty war, as wars go.
An Iraqi “Gitmo”, in my opinion, is a bad idea. Not only would it be a concentrated provocation to terrorists, it would be ineffective. Are you suggesting we could sally forth, from a border enclave, dodging IEDs all the way, to respond to a dust-up hundreds of miles away? Useless.
Our greatest success in placating the general population has come since we dispersed troops among the populace instead of venturing out from secure enclaves.
I do not doubt your sincerity but you need to rethink your strategy.
Southernboy, note that I said it reminded me of Mt. Suribachi. Certain poses in the Iraq picture spurred that image for me. Not that it is the same, mind you, but certainly it did remind me of something else.
Whine on………
Maybe this is better, Southernboy?
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/images/whiteflagbok.jpg
Yeah, but on the other hand, it’s hard to believe just one person could be the source of so much emotionalism and naive relativism.
Nancy Pelosi?
God allows Hell – for sinners.
Just wonderful. It nearly made me cry. Thank God for Michael Yon, or we might never know of such wonderful things.
I went to a couple of Milblogger sessions at Blogworld today and it was the talk of the conference.
How can anyone not pick that picture up and run with it?
As an American soldier, Rob, I can tell you we would rather “deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States in close combat” than have them, as you put it, ‘smash against a lightning rod’ (as much as I love passive defense in RTS games, my training in tactics and military science teaches me that this is unrealistic when you don’t have ice towers or battlemages). What about saying our presence in Iraq is such a lightning rod? Or was, rather, before Al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers became unoperational. Now it is has gone from lightning rod to power source, to bastardize the analogy.
In any case:
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 (NKJV)