This is a very inspiring story.  It should be inspiring to anyone, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Agnostic, Atheist, etc...and on and on.  

I find it inspiring because it proves that even in the face of potential death, many can and choose to practice their religion freely and without fear.  

Living in the "West", or in my case the USA, we hardly ever think about religion; however, it is one of the United States' TRUEST "national treasures" as it gives each of us a chance to enjoy and explore any religion we wish.  However most people it seems do not value this right we have been given by our forefathers.  

Really, I doubt many of us even take a moment out of the day to even think of the word "God", much less to discern for ourselves what that word actually means to us as individuals.  I find it sad that we, as Americans, and as citizens of one of the most liberated, if not THE most liberated (and that does not mean "liberal"....although I am a liberal) nations in the world, choose to forget about God, or spirituality and we ignore it.  

After all, since 9-11, we have all these scary words that we use for people who we believe carry their religions tenets too far....words like extremists, hard-liners, god-squads...etc...and on and on and on.  These words and these attitudes have in effect driven many people I know farther away from God as opposed to drawing god closer.  They are afraid they will get labeled and so they just do not even talk about God, because of the reasons stated already, but also because we have become such an intolerant society where religion is concerned that it is damn near impossible to hold a conversation about God, Spirituality, etc...without it turning into an argument or an outright fight even.  So, people, just tend to push any thoughts of God out of their minds.  As well, with all the talk (some of it very clear talk and some of it is just insinuated--which is the kind of talk I hate) about this war on terror being a sort of a religious battle, people are getting to the point that they simply want nothing to do with a God whom approves of all this killing and greed and gluttony.

After all, this war cannot be, not overtly anyway, about the OIL because that is simply distasteful among the blue-bloods who would have to admit that a large part of their income is derived from actions that kill other Americans, cause other Americans to kill, and quite simply causes other people to be basically horrible to one another.

I dont know the name of the man who said the following nor do I remember the quote exactly but it is something like this "Nothing corrupts a person so thoroughly as Power"....it was something to that effect an I must say, after seeing the world change the way it has over the last few years, I think that type of thinking is dead on target....there is no doubt in my mind that Power is as addictive and, ultimately, just as destructive as any drug or drink you can find.

We should be extreme (Yes, we SHOULD be Extremists.....ooooo scaaarrryy) in our beliefs once we have decided what they are....yet, we need to also allow other people a chance to breathe and decide what they truly beleive in for their own selves as well.  I mean, Baba Noel pretty much has to be extreme in his views to have the guts to get on a bicycle and ride in a parade in Iraq right now.  BUT HE WAS NOT KILLING ANYONE.  He was simply exercising his religious freedom in a place where I know it is damn near a death sentence to associate with anyone who is not a Muslim.  

As well, you have Benazir Bhutto murdered just a few days ago when she stuck her head up out of a sunroof to wave to supporters, a graceful women who always wore her headscarf and was, perhaps, liberal politically, but I think she was also a true Muslim and a Good Muslim woman, and she died.....FOR WHAT???? Because someone thought she should take her place as a Male/Son infant factory crank out as many children as possible.

Yet, we see this man, the Iraqi Baba Noel, who survived a trip down the road in Iraq dressed up as Santa Clause.  I have a feeling that a lot of extremists or insurgents or whatevahs in Iraq had the flu or some other pre-planned Let's go and blow up of something" appointment that they just could not get out of that day. I, personally, would just rather think God (my type) was certainly watching over him that day and I am hopeful that this is one of those small signs we often see in the world, but tend to forget them because they are so small.  Yet, these small signs are the ones that give the optimistic person something to hope for....For Example, a real END to this war in Iraq.  Before any of us can have a chance to contemplate God or any of his Handywork, we need to realize that we need to STOP KILLING EACH OTHER!!!!  

So much bloodshed since 9-11 and people are still getting blown up, shot, murdered in some of the most heinous ways imaginable, blowing other people up, shooting others, and murdering them in some of the most heinous ways imaginable, and it will continue to go on until someone wakes up one morning and they decide that they had absolutely no clue what they were doing or what they were trying to accomplish.  At that point, the power players, will grow bored....but rest assured, these tpe of people will gain interest again in the future and war will happen again....but no one should blame it on God.  It is not god's plan, thoughts, requirements, rules, or even punishment for imperfect human beings. People are still talking other people into blowing other people up and killing indiscriminately.  My questions are these ....if all of these people, those who are propagandists for their various religions, believe that God wants us to kill so much, or that God will honor us better than anyone in heaven if we go out and kill ourselves and take whoever is close to us along, then why are they NOT strapping on that simple little grenade jacket and blowing their own selves up...Why do they not shove a M-16 A2 into their own 17+ years old child's hands and tell them they will be taken care of forever if they just go to this war and honor their country??  

Or if they believe that this is some noble crusade and we must defeat the "evil-doer's" (I mean, c'mon, if that label does not have overtly Christian connotations than I don't know what to think) then why are they not telling their sons daughters, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, and on and on --why are they not telling them it is their "duty" to go and kill for God?  Why are the young relatives of all the powerful Senators and Representatives on Capitol Hill not lined up at the recruiters office by the hundreds each day to put their life on the line?   Why are the children of those who are hiding out in caves "to fight for their religion" not blowing themselves up?  Bin Laden has some ridiculous number of children but how many of them have been told by dear ole'pops that they must become a homocidal/suicidal bomber?? We should be hearing about this stuff on CNN......IF (yeah, right)it ever actually happens.... or reading it in the papers everyday that "Such and Such Bin Laden blew himself up in a fruit market today taking along with him 10 innocent women and children......oh and they were fellow Muslims too." or "Iforgothisfirstname Lott, grandson of Senator Trent Lott, a fighter pilot in the war on terror was killed today shortly after strafing a tiny village just South Of Baghdad.  At least 40 people will killed with close to 60 injured, the majority of which were women walking from the market along with their children.  When President Bush heard the news, he sent out immediate condolences to the family while also pledging to remain steadfast and continue the honorable duty of fighting terrorists where they are on their own streets, etc...etc...blah blah blah."

This decade, I am suspecting, will continue to be filled with the ridiculously stupid actions of completely ego-maniacal people who care nothing for God, at all, really and forget about actually thinking about god at all...there are too many other things that require our attention, like our iPods, or Plasma TV's, our Hummers that we drive down the highwa, has never seen a speck of dirt on it....but dang it looks sooooo coooool.  God, in whatever form we decide works for ourselves, simply is not a real priority.  People might go to church, but are they really listening...are they really HEARING???  Church has become a place to go to so you maintain a good standing in the community or it is a good place to show off the new diamonds your hubby gave you, or to plan to go golfing after church with the new clubs your wife bought you....if only this DAGGONE church Service would ever end!!!!!  

God is not dead.  It is the hearts and minds of men and women that are dead.  God is simply used as a shadow that we use to hide behind.  To Justify our war-making.  But these leaders who are fighting each other through the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers because they are too cowardly to fight their own battles -- all these guys want is money, Power, and it seems (considering it costs me nearly 40 bucks a week to fill up my 1.7L Honda Civic....Used to only cost 14 dollars) they want all the oil in the whole world too. Heck, they are even arguing about aeas of the world where no wells have even been built at all......they argue over oil that has not even been found yet.  What a bunch of goofballs.  I can say all this because I honorably served my country.  I earned the right to cast suspicion on anyone who will send a person they dont even know to die in war, when they will not send their own kids.  One thing you have to say about Price Charles of England and his youngest son Harry....harry joined the military and is supposed to be going to Iraq.....That is one blue-blood kid out of how many in the world....I guess we could figure out how many there are by counting how many diamonds it took to create the ANCHOR jewelry they wear.  

Look at Putin in Russia for a minute.  His country was basically bankrupt because of the privatization of the oil industry after the break-up of the Soviet union, and just like here in America, the people who moved into that market quickly and efficiently made A TON of money and a ton is a definite understatement.  Yet, Putin took office and, being an ex-KGB/FSB man, he decided that he could do what he wanted; so, many of these Russian Big Oil men ended up dead, in jail or they fled the country.  Now the Russian government controls basically all oil companies in Russia with the exception of 2 commpanies, I think.  He might own those two by now as well.  And now his country is prospering and yaddah yaddah yaddah. But not even he could walk down a street in iraq dressed as Baba Noel.  First of all, like others in his profession (Politics), he is a spineless weasel who is going to end up making Russia a communist country again...and not to help the people, but it will be like the good old days when most Russians, and soviet citizens from other soviet states were slaves to the grind, know what I mean?  

Yes, money, power in this world, and Oil have become the Gods of those who are already either sitting pretty close to those seats of power, or they are already in those seats.

Yet, this wonderful Iraqi "baba Noel" truly knows who God is (for himself of course as it is a personal decision for everyone) and all he wanted to do that day was borrow a Santa outfit, hand out some cool CD's and just celebrate a holiday that is in line with his own beliefs.  Is he not a happy man?  I would say H**L YEAH he is.....If for no other reason, he must at leasst be happy to have made it down that street without being unfairly blown up by some 14-year-old who has been brainwashed into believing that blowing himself up will get him seated higher and closer to God in heaven if he does the thing.  Oh and to a 14 year old....If he thinks he is getting ONE virgin he will chew through steel and bite his own leg off to get at her....If he thinks he is getting 72 VIRGINS....well, by the time that sentence is out of the recruiters mouth (or my own pet nickname for the man talking a child into such behavior...."i-am- a-cool-guy-and-like-seeing-little-kids-blow-themselves-up") he is long gone and suited up for martyrdom after hearing about that promise from "God" (the guy telling him all this crap)  I know the koran does not teach this and the idea of Jihad as a holy War really means that type of internal struggle we all must, at some point, face when we are deciding what God means to us.

 In the west, we better wake up and start thinking about this for OUR OWN SELVES.  We should stop trying to tell others how to live and pray and start taking a look at the way we, as individuals live and pray.......we live and think about how we live (however, I think most of that is in material terms--how much money we have, what car we drive, etc...) but I would venture a guess that most people do not worry about praying too much unless they are in a really tight spot or scared out of their wits.  Like my platoon sergeant told me when I first went in the Army:  "When you are dug in and in a foxhole getting shot at, that is when many people become Christian (or whatever)...how long it lasts is usually until the shooting stops and then they forget all about it."  That had a real impact on me and I never wanted any faith of my own to be so shallow.

This Iraqi Baba Noel has given me a renewed sense of clarity as I continue to search for God in my own life and in my own heart.  And, THAT, friends is exactly why it pays to look at the fine print, or the obscure news stories such as this very one.  

I commend newsweek for publishing this article.

    A very bold and daring man, doing what he was doing. Sometimes a certain "spirit" overcomes people, and the consequences be damned. His actions are commendable and in the right spirit; however, I doubt that many of his countrymen would call him anything other than "madman"......