Iraq under the Blitz

Just reading a history of the defiant stand by Londoners during the Second World War under the almost constant bombardment of Hitler's Luftwaffe, with hundreds and sometimes over a thousand dead nightly. Then I read this by the Iraq Foreign Minister and realize they are the same:

Across the city, restaurants are slowly filling and shops are
reopening. The streets are busy. Iraqis are not cowering indoors. The appalling
death tolls from suicide attacks are often high because of crowding at markets.
These days you are as likely to hear complaints about traffic congestion as
about the security situation. Across Baghdad there is a cacophony of sirens from
ambulances, firefighters and police providing public services. You cannot even
escape the curse of traffic wardens ticketing illegally parked cars.
These
small but significant snippets of normality are overshadowed by acts of gross
violence, which fuel the opinion of some that Iraq is in a downward spiral. The
Iraqi people are indeed suffering tremendous hardships and making grave
sacrifices -- but daily life goes on for 7 million Baghdadis struggling to take
back their capital and country...

Contrary to popular belief, most government ministries are
located outside the Green Zone, and employees drive to work every day despite
death threats and attacks on colleagues and families. We government ministers
are always at risk of assassination. When a suicide bomber attacked parliament
last month, the legislators sat in defiance in an extraordinary session the
following day. I am particularly inspired by the commitment of the young
diplomats in the Foreign Ministry, a diverse mix of Sunni, Shiite, Christian,
Arab and Kurdish men and women who serve their country without subscribing to
religious or sectarian divisions.
Iraqis are standing up every day, and we
persevere because there is no other option. We will not surrender our country to
terrorists.

This bold stand of the Iraqi's must go down as one of the most defiant stands against tyranny in history, including with the courageous stand led by Churchill in the Battle of Britain, when he declared "Victory in spite of all Terror!"