Trenches

Here is what the kid from Talimi Haq was talking about

Bitter Gourd

My position on Iraq and the current American involvment is that we should leave one quarter to about half of our troops in the Middle East and spread them out amount Iraq and Afghanistan to find Osama Bin Laden and try and build a democracy but not at the jeopardy of American lives. The soldiers who have had to stay in the service for longer than they intended should be relieved and new soldiers will take their place. We should worry more about what is going to benefit our country internally rather than immediatly looking towards international relations. By taking some of these soldiers home, many people will be satisfied. It seems like bringing soldiers home is almost more of an issue than the war itself. All that bumper stickers and signs say now are things such as “Bring Home the Troops” which is a major concern of many Americans which it should be. The recent sentence of death that was given to Saddam Hussein was looked at as a major liberation in Iraq and it already opened the doors to a better chance of finally achieving a democracy. This is the type of interaction that America should have. A look but not touch type of attitude that doesn’t encourage much of a violent reaction after making political or military moves.

Saadi Hamid, 63, sat in his photography shop staring up at a television carrying the second broadcast of the sentencing. He cried when he saw it the first time. But this time, when Saddam Hussein began to shout, “Long live the Iraqi people!” Mr. Hamid looked away and smiled broadly. “‘Long life for Iraqi people and he killed everyone,” he said. “No one can help him now.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/world/middleeast/06voices.html

This is showing just how explosive the reaction of the Iraqi people can be after events unfolded themselves no thanks to the American military being there. Rather than fighting this was for us to win, they are fighting for Iraq to stay together.

This book was definetly worth reading. I couldn’t have picked a better one on the list. One of the lasting understandings I took from this book was the importance of life. These people did absolutely nothing wrong and were taken to camps to die in horrible deaths away from their family and in horrible physical condition. Everyone has seen the pictures and the movies but many people haven’t read or seen the Holocaust through the perspectvie of someone who lived through it. When Elie first arrived to the camp he said he had seen young children, babies, being burned in the furnaces. That is the true definition of Evil. I have never heard of anything that could compare to that level of evil. I would like to find out more about what the Nazis could possibly have been thinking as they did these deeds. I wonder if they truely believed what Hitler was telling them and they really did want to kill the Jewish population because they hated them or if they just felt that they had to if they wanted to survive in Germant and escpae the wrath of Hitler. If it was more of a follow the leader mentality compared to a individual thought process.

Night has become an unbelievably good book. The beginning didn’t catch me but as I read on it became better and better. This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. The insight that was provided through the authors personal expierence made this book so much better. Another thing that I thought was very good was the amount of detail that the author used when he even described his hunger. I could picture what he was talking about when he described the muddy tents and camps that they were forced to stay in and the faces of the always shrinking Jewish population of his camps. Overall, I’m glad I picked this book and it was definetly worth reading and opened my eyes on the Holocaust.