Michael Yon's Iconic Photo

Here's Michael Yon, in Thanks and Praise:

I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome.

A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Cavalry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. “Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers. 

The conventional wisdom has been that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war between the Sunnis and the Shi'as; the reality is that the sectarian violence in Iraq has been produced, promoted, and primarily carried out by al Qaeda and other foreign terrorist elements. The conventional wisdom has been that Muslims and Christians cannot get along with each other, much less cooperate; the reality is that this bigotry, too, has been imported from foreign sources. The conventional wisdom has been that Iraq is a terrible place that will never be a suitable place for civilized people to live; the reality is far different, as Michael Yon's photographs and reports show.

It seems the problem now is how to combat all that false conventional wisdom. As it's been said,

The problem isn't what you don't know. The problem is what you know that isn't so.

Chris Muir has made his contribution to this effort by capturing the impact of Yon's photo.

And now it has spread. Just a few of the places showcasing the photo are Captain's Quarters, Jules Crittenden, Gateway Pundit, The Anchoress, and Confederate Yankee, among lots of others — all helping to drive out bad information with a large does of good information.