Over at Dean Esmay's site, he's spearheading a drive to include the following logo and link on as many blogs as possible:
Why is that important? An Iraqi gives one good reason why. Dr. Khalaf's article points to another reason, however, and it goes beyond support or non-support for the war. Seriousness about this question does not divide exactly along partisan lines - though I would argue that the division isn't even.
Simply put, it's this: What future do we want for the Iraqi people? What kind of place to we want Iraq to be?
Some in the "invade Iraq" camp would be happy with replacement of Saddam by a more compliant dictator. Dean's initiative isn't for them; they offer no real help to Dr. Khalaf or to thousands of others like him. Then, too, there are those in the "non-intervention" camp whose stance also comes from a position that could care less about Iraqis. They are animated primarily by either hard-core ideology/religion, material benefit, or by internal hatreds and resentments. Dean's initiative isn't for them, either.
For the rest of us, for whom the Iraqi people and their fate matters deeply, Dean's initiative is welcome and appropriate. How we get there may be a matter of disagreement. But what we seek, together, matters.
How to Get Involved
There's a static JPEG logo as well as an animated GIF. These have been fully tested, no uploading of files needed and no worries about the bandwidth. If you want to include this on your web site, just paste in one of the following sets of code:
Animated GIF Graphic
This option is attention grabbing, but uses a bit more bandwidth and may be distracting to some people. I chose this option for the graphic above. Here's the code to paste into your site:
<center><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/templ/display.cfm?id=247&Sub=336" target="_blank" alt="Democracy in Iraq!"><img src="http://www.windsofchange.net/files/iraqidemocracy.gif" height="73" width="100" border="1" alt="Animated GIF: Free Iraq"></a><center>
Static JPEG Graphic
This option is less attention grabbing, showing just the Lady Liberty graphic on the front. It uses less bandwidth and won't bother people who dislike motion on a page they're reading. Here's the code to paste into your site:
<center><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/templ/display.cfm?id=247&Sub=336" target="_blank" alt="Democracy in Iraq!"><img src="http://www.windsofchange.net/files/iraqidemocracy.jpg" height="73" width="100" border="1" alt="Static JPEG: Free Iraq!"></a><center>
If you do participate, please say so in the comments on Dean Esmay's site.
You rule, Joe!
However, please, anyone who uses this should post a comment saying youv'e done so so that, long term, we can keep track of who all did this. We may do a permanent directory of sites that stand in support of freedom for Iraq.
You may want to put a slash before the second center in each of the HTML codes. If you don't it centers your entire sidebar.
Just a bug I noticed, I'm sure you knew that.
Thanks, David. Fixed.
I'm in, via Joe's email & post.
Done, and confirmed.
In a permanent place on my sidebar! Thanks bunches!
It's up here at Silent Running.
Joe I am not very computer-literate. I just pasted the code onto my blog and it worked. Do I have to download anything? Am I committing the dread sin of stealing bandwidth?
Ok, I'm in. I did munge with the animation so it only rolls once. That's not a violation of copyright or something is it?
Done.
Diana, Quana:
[1] You can't steal what is freely offered. Glad it worked.
[2] Technically, I suppose modification is some kind of copyright violation. But nobody cares. Glad you put it up.
To everyone who has participated, many thanks!
Add *Michael Gersh*, *Xavier Basora*, and *Merde in France* to the list of supporters. All have notified me via email.
I have it up on my site
We've hit 91 officially checked in on Dean's World, plus some who checked in here, only I don't know which ones are duplicates.
I'd love to hit 100 by end of day. Keep it up gang. We're going to put together a formal list that the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies will publicly link to as a list of supporters.
We're doing a Very Good Thing here, gang. Follow that link to the site and read their materials. This is a great group with good material.
Suggestion--be sure to mention something about it to your readers. Doesn't have to be a whole long article but try to point out to people that you've done it!
Dean
It's up at Chicago Boyz.
BTW, is there a way to align the graphic with the left side of the space that it's in?
I have copied all comments here over to the page where we're officially tallying sites that are in. I encourage people who grab this graphic to post over there so we can keep the list compiled in one place.
We hit 120 sites this morning.