John Hinderaker at Powerline posts on a translation of a report in Kululiraq, an Iraqi newspaper, sent by Haider Ajina:

Iraqis stood for three minutes of silence yesterday in commemoration of the lives lost in the two attacks in Baghdad Aljadedah and Almusaiyab, which claimed 105 martyrs, 32 of whom were children, and 128 wounded of whom 31 were children.

Hinderaker's report from Haider also includes this startling quote from the Iraqi Prime Minister Dr. Ibrahiem Aljaafary:

“We will not sway from our path and we will not kneel to those who commit these crimes.” He added, ”We are confident that all nations of this world stand beside us, because to day terrorism does not only affect us Iraqis but the whole world. We Iraqis have the honor of being in the front line in the fight against terrorism."

Hinderaker passes on Haider's disappointment that this protest and the Prime Minister's commentswent unreported in the Western Press. Haider observes:

The news reported the small anti America demonstration by Alsadar and some Baathists in April but some how missed the whole Iraqi nation standing still in defiance of terrorism.

As Hinderaker rightly observes:

The terrorists know that Iraq is the front line in the battle against terrorism; the Iraqis agree. Now if only we could convince the Democrats.

Those predisposed to view the war in Iraq as a distraction from the War on Terror -- a war such critics consistently underestimate, minimize, and mischaracterize in their attempt to be "objective" -- neglect and ignore any fact or event that refutes their prejudices. A very large majority of Mainstream Media practioners unfortunately, are willfully blind as they whistle past the graveyards.

And to those who want to suggest that our efforts in Iraq have fomented all this hatred, history and actual events forcefully refute this foolish assessment. The Rasputins behind Militant Islam declared war on the west, the U.S. pre-eiminently, long before we set foot in Iraq. They waged war against us long before 9/11. And in their blood-washed eyes, this war even preceeded the Modern Era, and even came before the Crusades, which they viewed as the West's last vain counter-attack against the Greater Caliphate.

The courageous now free citizens of Iraq share common cause with the Coalition for the time preserving their emergent Democracy. And they now share the risk of standing prominently against the terrorists, which of course makes them a target.

That's what happens when you're on the front lines.

(We're what's for dinner at Basil's Blog tonight. Check out the other offerings, if you're hungry.)