Freedom is Not Free
This post is contributed by Dr. Diane Hassan, author of “Angels Among Us Even in Iraq”, who is currently participating in “On Loan at You Served” as a guest blogger.
The first night of missiles being dropped all over Iraq was over. We made it thru the first night. When the sun came up planes left. The planes came to our area only at night.
I remembered the Iran war, missiles were launched into Baghdad, but they never hit their targets. Usually the missile would fall on neighborhoods and innocent people were killed. America was precise in only hitting military targets.
As, I watch the news today and see the unrest in Iran, I feel like I am back in 1979, when the Shaw left Iran, and there was so much violence going on in Iran, like I am seeing today. The Iranians are like the Iraqies were during Desert Storm, the people are tired and they want change. I feel I am back in 1979, when I see Iran today.
After our first night of bombing during Desert Storm, the people of Iraq knew what is was like to be at war with a super power. The Iraqies were not afraid as long as America was overhead. The farmers in our area bragged on America and were excited about how they only hit military targets, not civilians, I heard about the soldiers that went in to the South of Iraq, they bragged on how they didn’t even step on the tomato plants.
After the first week we no longer had food or water. We would save water in barrels outside when the government did turn on the water. We bathed every two weeks, water was scarce, and fuel to heat the water was scarce.
The farmers in the area knew what grew naturally that we could eat. They made sure they shared their bread with us and what food they had. We were tired, hungry, cold and scared, but that was okay, that was the price we knew we had to pay for freedom…freedom is not free
