First off, sorry about both the delay in responding to you and the unfortunate bold face type.  Re the first I've been travelling and fathering and starting another film, and re the second, I'm not on a familiar computer and it seems to bold face sections whenever it feels so inclined, so sorry about that

Kevin G: I'd be curious to know if you would have written the same letter to a woman who had lost a son or daughter, maybe a husband or parent to Saddam's madness? 

David B. Yes, I would have. Same with a Sudanese family, or a Honduran family, or an Appalachian family...  Faiza happens to be someone who I've personally connected with. I could be polite and say I'm sorry if that offends you, but I'd also be being dishonest.

Kevin G: The persons who write this blog appear to be a bit more well off than the average Iraqi family and so I imagine they're not too excited for change other than having Saddam removed.  Hardly a good representation of an all too oppressed society.

David B:  Faiza's husband is an accountant.  Faiza is a housewife and mother who likes to garden.  What are you implying?  Her neighborhood has been attacked by rockets.  She's in the middle of a crossfire. She has three sons who she's terribly worried about that she desperately loves, two of military age and one approaching it.  She is a sweet, simple person who does not understand why all of this is going on.   

Kevin G: I read what you wrote several times and each time I came away with a sense that the Iraqi people were better off with Saddam in power.  It left me with the overwhelming feeling that we're the evil ones to be feared.  Do you really believe that?  Honestly? 

David B: No, I don't think that "we're" the evil ones to be feared. I know that I haven't, and I don't think that you have bombed anyone, nor do I think that you've set up triangulated rifle teams to blow off the heads of anyone that moves in Faiza's neighborhood. I do, on the other hand, think that any American who doesn't do anything and everything that he or she can do to remove this criminally incompetent administration from power is criminally complicit in the acts that are committed under our name and under our flag.

Kevin G: You harken back to the time of Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin but I have to scratch my head and wonder how black American's would feel about going back to those days. 

David B:  No, I don't hearken back to the times of Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin (and John Coltrane, who you conveniently left out).  I hearken back to them, their personalities, their wit, their creativity, their originality... their Americanness.  The kind of Americanness that I can be proud of.  If I were a German I'd be proud of Goethe, and ashamed of Hitler.  If I were Italian, I'd be proud of Da Vinci and ashamed of Mussolini. If I were British I'd be proud of Byron and ashamed of Thatcher. 

Kevin G:  Your letter oozed with self righteousness and condescention.  I'm still confused about the life haters comment.  Maybe you could expand on that.  Sorry to get ruffled but ruffled I was and no appoligies I make.

David B:  You're confused about the life haters comment?  Kevin, you know about creativity.  I've seen it in your beautiful glasswork.  The care, the love, the attention to detail...  That is life.  The raising of children, free-thinking, open-minded, humorous, rebellious, unique, precious children, that's life.   Concocting a bunch of fraudulent reasons to kill god knows how many people for money and then playing on the fears and ignorance and idealism of your countrymen to justify it...  That is death, and those who follow such paths can only be described as haters of life.

Kevin G: Have you put yourself in the shoes of the Iraqi people and if you have what would you want to happen?  Let's pretend for a moment that your sister was raped by one of Saddam's men or that your father was taken away and never heard from again.  It wasn't just your family which suffered because you can go on and on about friends of yours who have similar stories to tell.  You're helpless to do anything about it because you can't simply vote the bums out.  Can you?  You only know a life of oppression and actually, freedom seldom enters your rational thoughts because it's too difficult to entertain that idea knowing that in your lifetime it will never happen for you or your family. 

David B:   You honestly think that we're there to liberate  peace-loving Iraqis from the bondage of Saddam.  That's the most frightening thing about all of this.  The willingness of decent-minded citizens of my country to blind themselves to the most obvious facts. That is chilling.

Kevin G: Violence is a comfortable pair of jeans you wear.  You wouldn't feel right without a being able to slip into a pair.  It's going to take a little time to break in this new pair of jeans called freedom but in time you'll begin to like their feel and you'll soon begin to wonder how you ever lived without them.

David B:  You're right, of course.  The first three or four hundred people I killed felt kind of uncomfortable.  But then, well, I began to like the feeling, and I wondered how I ever lived before I started killing people.  Is that what you mean?  Holy Christ, man.  Is that what you're saying?  Who do you need to commit violence upon in the name of freedom?  And you accuse me of self-righteousness.

You worry me.

David

Kevin g