Want to do something to make a difference in Iraq?

Does anyone actually believe that bombing the shit out of Iraq is the way to make a difference in the future lives of the people who call it home?

How about a way to make a small but very real investment in Iraq's future?

Maj. Bob Bateman has been keeping progressives informed for well over a year via Eric Alterman and Jim Romanesko. When Bateman requests something, progressives listen and respond:

Ten months ago, not long after my arrival here in Iraq, a friend posted to this letters page a personal plea for some reading material, and perhaps a little French Vanilla non-dairy creamer. The response from Romenesko readers, and those at Eric Alterman's site, overwhelmed. As an example, your generosity buried us beneath one hundred and thirty pounds of French Vanilla creamer. Have you any idea of the cubic volume which that much creamer occupies? Just as importantly, at least for my own sense of mental balance, were subscriptions to the New Yorker, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal ...all unexpected, each of which did its part in preserving an important part of each of us here.

Now Bateman is asking us to make an investment in the future journalists of Iraq, so that the Iraqis can have real reporters, instead of American Republican shills.

have carried weapons for seventeen years, weapons which made journalism possible in this country. But I have known from the outset that ultimately, only journalists can save this country. There is a catch. In this I refer to neither American journalists, nor European ones, but Iraqis. I live in a city in which Boss Tweed would feel completely at ease. I want to help create his Thomas Nast, or the Iraqi Upton Sinclair, and there is only one way to do that. Education.

Accordingly, I browbeat my peers into helping me in the de facto adoption of a school here. It's just one school, but it is a start. There are 450 grade school boys (a riotous unruly pack), about 400 grade school girls (well behaved and groomed), and an as-of-yet undetermined number of High Schoolers. The school is ramshackled, dirty, and underprovisioned in every category but the dedication of the teachers. I want to change the first three parts of that situation, and I want you all to help.

Go here for a list of needed supplies and where to send them.

Got a kid in school? Teach him or her that patriotism isn't about rah-rah-ing a delusional president; teach him or her how ordinary people can make more of a difference than the barrel of a gun can. Suggest that his/her class adopt this school and donate supplies.

Work in a corporation? Ask for donations from your co-workers.

Or if you can't do either of those, for God's sake go to Staples, buy a couple of boxes of pencils and writing pads and send them along.

Conservatives show their so-called patriotism by reciting slogans, bashing liberals, and Swiftboating 37-year military veterans. Progressives show their so-called patriotism by rolling up our sleeves and doing something. We send USO care packages to soldiers. We go to hurricane-ravaged areas to rescue animals. We help others. We don't believe that "I got mine and fuck you" is a philosophy to live by. We may not all be religious, we may not wear our religion on our sleeve, but to us, morality is about a lot more than nosing around other people's bedrooms; it's about how we treat the other people and creatures with whom we share this planet. It's what being liberal stands for, and it's why no one should be ashamed to be one.

Let's show some Iraqi students what this country is supposed to stand for.