I attended a fantastic luncheon Wednesday afternoon for Spirit of America.  The event was sort of an "up close & personal meet & greet" for Bay Area donors / supporters with the leader of the group - Jim Hake - and a few key guys on his team (LtCol Alan Burghard).   2 highlights from the event

• Brothers Omar and Mohammed Ali of Iraq the Model
• Meeting the rest of the audience.

I've been a bit swamped lately and didn't have a chance to record all the interesting nuggets shared BUT, luckily, other bloggers wrote up their (100% positive) reviews of the event

Dan Gillmor

I just had the honor of introducing some extraordinary people to a Silicon Valley audience. They were Jim Hake, CEO and founder of Spirit of America, which I wrote about last spring. His operation is bringing help from U.S. citizens to people who need it in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's worth your time to look at it.

The stars of the lunch program, however, were Omar and Mohammed Ali, two of three brothers who have been writing the Iraq the Model blog for over a year. It's an on-the-ground look at conditions they're seeing in a nation that's seen so much horror.

Silicon Valley Redneck

LtCol Burghard was a bit of a surprise. Drop him in an accountants' convention and play "spot the jarhead," and he'd be invisible. Change the game to "spot the evangelist," however, and he stands out: he's clearly a true believer in the underlying principle of democracy, that the common man is worthy of self-government.

...The feel of the gathering was refreshing. Imagine putting a few dozen people in a small room, in late-2004 California, and having no trace of hate in the air. None. There was the inevitable uncertainty of a room full of people mostly meeting (in person, at least) for the first time, but no hint of the festering animosity that poisons so many social events lately.

Tim Oren -

More important than bypassing the MSM will be the effects within Iraq. As Mohammed put it (from my notes):

I am Iraqi. I can express myself - I can tell my own story. It's hard for people to be alone. If you can see others that share the same thoughts and dreams, you are stronger.

For the Iraqi people to be able to witness to themselves, as well as the rest of the us, will be a world changing event. Omar pointed out that although the rest of the Arabic world has had access to the Internet for some years, there are now more blogs from Iraq than all the rest combined, even having to struggle with English only tools. This is a people who will raise their voices, given the means.

And, Renee Blodgett -

... Mohammed continues, "we can now voice our experiences and our views.....not told by western media, but by us, Iraqis. It's hard when you feel you're alone in the midst of this transition, but when you can write about it and read about others going through similar pain and uncertainty, you feel more confident that we'll overcome those fears together."

The whole event was so beautiful and stirring that I've "re-upped" my commitment to Spirit of America and am now participating in the BlogDrive.    You can donate via paypal here.

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