IRAQ THE MODEL

I think that we owe the readers some clarifications regarding what happened in the last couple of weeks and we apologize for not posting anything about that.
We were very busy during our visit to the States that we couldn't find the time to communicate with our readers.
Those days were very special ones and we never felt like strangers there; we were surrounded with love and respect where ever we went. We were amazed by the endless support and good will that the American people have for Iraq.
Everyone was saying "we're praying for your people and your country".
It's been a great opportunity to meet many of our dear readers and respectable bloggers like Jeff Jarvis and Roger Simon and many other friends who kept following and supporting "Iraq the Model" throughout the past 13 months.

We weren't, and will not be afraid of anyone when it comes to what we are trying to do for our country; we have faced many challenges during the lifetime of "Iraq the Model" and our readers know that, and we have always confronted the challenges and accusations that come from people who offensively and illogically oppose our pursue for truth and freedom.

Ali's decision to leave the blog is a personal decision that neither I nor Mohammed want, or have the right to interfere with, but I'm sure that he had his reasons which he preferred to keep for himself, at least for now.
Anyway, he only left the blog because he thinks he can serve his country in a better way through doing other things but we still hope that he will reconsider his decision.

We want to emphasize that neither I nor my brothers have changed our opinion about the American people and we're still grateful for the people who risked and sacrificed to liberate Iraq from the tyrant and that we haven't faced any ill treatment from any American in Iraq.

The other issue that I want to give some clarifications about is our visit to the States because the press and some bloggers began to make up stories based more on assumptions than on facts.

We were primarily invited (as Iraqi bloggers) to attend a conference for international bloggers in Harvard; an event that was attended by bloggers from Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, China and many other countries in addition to bloggers from the States.

The main reason why we accepted this invitation was because of "Arabic blogging tool" that was going to be demonstrated in the event because we believe that this tool can provide the opportunity for interested people in Iraq and elsewhere in the Arab region to freely publish their ideas and opinions onto the web to give the audience outside this region a better understanding on the political and social situation in this part of the world without having to pass through the filters of the media or the governments. This will also provide a gateway through which those future bloggers can exchange their ideas and feel connected instead of isolated.

I want to add a few words about the "friends of democracy" and the "spirit of America" and the cooperation between these two groups; "spirit of America" is a humanitarian organization that implemented some successful humanitarian projects in Iraq and we are impressed with the good will of the people behind these projects and this is what drew our attention to this organization while "friends of democracy" is an Iraqi pro democracy NGO that is run by Iraqis who want to spread democracy in Iraq and Iraq the Model suggested the formation of the "friends of democracy" NGO and brought its members into contact with SOA, and we volunteered to assist both organizations in their work but we have nothing to do with their financial or administrative operations.

I just want to point out that "Iraq the model"-because of our humble experience in blogging-was interested in introducing the Arabic blogging tool (that spirit of America is developing in cooperation with a Canadian software company) to the friends of democracy which will eventually introduce this tool to the people who want to start their own blogs in Arabic.

The three of us will never quit fighting for freedom and democracy along with our brothers and sisters in Iraq and the rest of the world and now we're doing this with more confidence and faith in a better future as we knew that Americans supported freedom in Iraq but we had no idea how great this support is and how committed the American people are for the success in Iraq until we saw it in our trip.
Thank you again.
We will never disappoint you because basically we're fighting for our dream.