Some Parting Thoughts from Major Thomas Sadiq

Major Sadiq was a terrific help to me when I moved up to Baghdad and started my new position. Always hard working and friendly, he made time to help every time I asked. Now he has finished his 12 months here and is leaving us. But he left us with a parting message I thought was worth sharing:

Hello,

I am about to leave MNSTC-I. I have worked closely with you during our time together as we helped the Nation of Iraq develop. I thank you all for the time and effort you expended on my behalf.

I volunteered for the deployment, and it’s been a long road. Let me tell you what has changed since I arrived. I’ve been through the days when we were told we had lost. The Senate voted on a resolution to divide Iraq into three parts. Foreign Affairs ran an article asking not if Iraq had been lost, but attempting to place blame on who lost it. General Petraeus was belittled in the press and in the halls of Congress, and the surge was deemed destined to fail by many. We’ve been though the days when steel rained from the sky, when some said that the best option was to plaster bomb Sadr city and slaughter all those inside. But we didn’t, and have emerged from that trial bloodied but stronger, and with our integrity intact.

We were told that Muslims in general and Iraqis in particular lacked the genetic makeup for democracy, that such an egalitarian form of government was be reserved for those born in the western hemisphere. Yet, in the end, the abiding wisdom of our Founding Fathers rang out: For there are still those among us who committed to the idea that certain truths are self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Welcome to the new Republic of Iraq.

I cannot predict what will happen in the next year, but I am sure that your efforts will continue the progress that has been made. Nation building is not easy, nor for the faint of heart.

There will be a brief good-bye ceremony at the MNSTC-I flag pole at 1500 today. If you cannot make it, I wish you health and safety as you complete your tour and travel home.

Goodbye,

Maj Thomas Sadiq

I couldn't have said it any better myself...