I Cogitate

"...until recently it is my impression most Iraqis did not have an icon, one of their own who might help them solidify their feelings about current events. Now they do. Abdelamir Najem Kazem."

"What they wanted to talk about was Iraq’s first national hero in the modern era, and an unlikely hero in this country because he was a policeman. Abdelamir Najem Kazem was 34 years old on Sunday, 30 January, the day that he died. He was a policeman under the former regime, and was once again under the new government. You’ve probably heard a little about him even back home.  He became Iraq’s hero because on that day, while he was guarding a polling station in the Al-Yarmuk district of Baghdad (directly to the West of the “Green Zone”), he discovered a man with explosives trying to get in among the voters. Kazem did not hesitate;  depending upon the account one hears, he either dragged the man out and away from the voters, or threw him to the ground and covered him with his own body, but in either case the result was the same. The terrorist detonated his charges, killing himself, and only one other: Officer Kazem...In Iraq the police were never about protecting the people before. Public order and discipline were the purview of the Army and of Saddam’s thugs...In one tragic moment one man did more to change that perception than has any other since the fall of Saddam’s reign. In the process he also gave the Iraqi people something they desperately needed. A hero. I will try to remember his name."

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