From today's Wall Street Journal (A18):
"Mithal al-Alusi, a 53-year-old Sunni Arab who won a seat in parliament last December... ran on a platform of religious pluralism, human rights, free markets and a free press.... The following February assassins opened fire on Mr. al-Alusi's car as it apprached his Baghdad home. He wasn't in the vehicle, but his sons, 30-year-old Ayman and 22-year-old Gamal, were. Both were killed as their father watched. Still, Mr. al-Alusi was unbowed. 'Even if these terrorists try to kill me again, peace is the only solution,' he told reporters minutes after the attack....
"Hajim al-Hasani, a former parliament speaker... told me [the reporter] it is a misconception to view the violence in Iraq as the expression of popular will: 'The few bad apples can rotten the rest of the apples if nobody stops them.'"
[Back to al-Alusi:] "'We didn't have any kind of hope [under Saddam], and now, even with all our difficulty, we have hope.... I will be killed - if not today, tomorrow. The point is not me, but children.'.... Mithal al-Alusi could have left Iraq for a comfortable life in exile; a friend offered to help him relocate to the U.S. But he said no: 'My country needs me.' He has not given up the fight. How can we?"
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