The Four Freedoms

The sacrifices are worth it. A vehicle blown off the road by an IED, the crack of an AK round, huddling in a bunker as mortars crump around, the whoosh of an RPG, the backbreaking load of a soldier humping in the mountains, the long quiet fear of clearing a minefield one mine at a time, desperately starting an IV as a friend bleeds out, holding a buddy as he breaths his last, the divorces and broken lives back home. The people of Iraq and Afghanistan are eternally grateful; they know, understand and appreciate the sufferings held by a few to help the many.
Leading secular Shiite candidate Ahmad Chalabi stated that the majority of Iraqis are not afraid and are determined to vote. They are grateful to the "young men and women of the U.S. forces for helping us get to this day. Iraqi President Al-Yawer called his vote his country's first step "toward joining the free world." His wife, Nesreen Mustafa Berwari, a minister of public works in the country's interim government said, "This is a shining day on the road to the new Iraq." Iraq's interim prime minister said that the "success" of the election would mean America's sacrifices were made in the service of freedom. "They have not fallen in vain. They have fallen for a just cause ... and we are witnessing now some of the results of this very sacred cause," Ayad Allawi. "Their blood and the blood of Iraqi soldiers have not gone in vain."
During WWII, Norman Rockwell painted a series, The Four Freedoms:
The Freedom of Speech, The Freedom from Fear, The Freedom to Worship, The Freedom from Want, they are as timeless and meaningful now as they were then.
In Afghanistan and Iraq, soccer fields are used for sports and not for state executions, people are free to state their opinions without fear of being arrested or tortured by the government, farmers and shepard’s can enter green pastures without losing half their flock or their lives to mines, people have power and televisions, people have clean water and hospitals, women are allowed to go to school, people have food and goods from around the world. Free elections have been held in countries where despots and tyrannical leaders once cruelly enforced their power though fear and intimidation. Once you've been here, once you've seen the birth of these freedoms, the effects are dazzling. There is such a joy in freedoms never experienced.