Grateful Iraqis Say “Thank You, America”

Fifteen new Iraqi and Iraqi-American civilian groups have banded together to take out a full-page advertisement in USA Today thanking America and Americans for freeing Iraq from its bloodthirsty tyrant:

Following the formal handover of sovereignty to Baghdad, 15 Iraqi and Iraqi-American groups have issued an open letter to the American people, thanking them for the sacrifices they endured to liberate their country.
The letter will be delivered to President Bush at the White House today and published in a full page ad in USA Today.
“Just as we mourn for the victims of Saddam’s regime, we also grieve for the Americans and Iraqis who were killed or injured during the liberation or by terrorists determined to hold us back,” the letter reads. “We will honor those who have sacrificed for our freedom by building a new Iraq that lives in peace with the nations of the world, without fear of war, torture chambers or terrorism.” …
The letter was organized by the Iraq-America Friendship Alliance, or IAFA, a new coalition of Iraqi and American organizations and individuals “committed to fostering goodwill between the two nations, supporting Iraq’s reconstruction and movement toward democracy and telling the untold story from Iraq.”

The IAFA plans to spur goodwill exchanges between Iraq and the US and currently sponsors the speaking tour of the seven men who received prosthetic replacements for the hands chopped off during Saddam’s reign of terror.