Just spotted a link at ITM  [comment from Typos] that absolutely blew me away!  Oblahblah, what were you saying about the surge?

"As soon as the formation marched forward to the graduation line the candy started raining down. It is an Arabic tradition to give sweets at joyous occasions and at the military academy graduations this has taken the form of handfuls of candy being flung from the stands by women at the cadets and all of us gathered on the floor. I have never seen such huge smiles on Iraqi faces in my five years here. One wonderful older woman had a huge purse which she emptied at all of us on the floor before giving me a wink and transitioning to a basket at her side with another barrage."

The part of this story that warmed my heart was the candy-throwing thing.  Remember when we used to throw candy from floats in a parade on auspicious events like Memorial Day and Veterans Day?  That is until the liberal nanny "children get ran over when they run out to pick up the candy" state took over?  We have more in common with the Iraqi people than we ever thought possible.  Unless you remember that the yearning for FREEDOM comes from the same source [GOD] regardless of where you are from.