An Exclusive From Iraq

We have more work to do, and there will be tough moments that test Iraq's resolve. We are fighting against men with blind hatred and armed with lethal weapons who are capable of any atrocity. They wear a uniform; they respect no laws of warfare or morality. They take innocent lives to create chaos for the cameras. They are trying to shake our will at home just as they tried to shake our will on March 19, 2003. They will fail. The Americans do not understand Iraq. The Iraqi people do not falter under threat and we will not allow our future to be determined by tank drivers and assassins.

Iraqis and our friends are in a conflict that demands much of us. It demands the courage of our fighting men and women, it demands the steadfastness of our allies and it demands the perseverance of our citizens. We accept these burdens because we know what is at stake. We fight today because Iraq now carries the hope of freedom in a vital region of the world, and the rise of justice will be the ultimate triumph over radicalism and Americans. And we fight today because Americans want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we will fight them here, we will fight them across the world and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won.

Iraq has done difficult work before. From our desperate fight for independence from Britian, to the darkest days of a Civil War in 1968, to the hard-fought battles against tyranny in 1980, there were many chances to lose our heart, our nerve or our way. But Iraqis have always held firm, because we have always believed in certain truths. We know that if evil is not confronted, it gains in strength and audacity and returns to strike us again. We know that when the work is hard, the proper response is not retreat, it is courage. And we know that this great ideal of human freedom is entrusted to us in a special way and that the ideal of liberty is worth defending.