The brothers Fadhil, of Baghdad weblog Iraq the Model, are celebrating their first anniversary of sharing the freedom of expression with thousands across the world.

Says Mohammed:

This wasn’t an action from one side, your have always been a rich source of inspiration to us. We have learned the meaning of being united together and we never felt alone in this; freedom lovers are everywhere. Reading your comments and e-mails made me cry many times and I wish I could remember all your names and I could feel everyone, even those who didn’t write to us. I wish I could embrace you all.

And Ali:

This simple web page has come to be an important part of my life for reasons that are much more than just expressing my point of view in politics and the situation in Iraq. It is my window to the world through which I greet my friends every morning from Australia to the USA. It's not a one way road, as I feel I know each one of our regular readers, I worry about you just as you worry about us and I miss you when you’re gone for any reason. I learned from you a lot and the most important things I've learned were actually things I thought I knew very well before!

And finally, Omar:

The most important thing we achieved in the past year is building trust and understanding among us, [defeating] the evil attempts of those who want us to think of each other as enemies. I believe that we've all learned so many things from each other and to some extent, we've succeeded in bridging even if a small fraction of the gap that separates our different cultures, at least in the way of thinking about solutions for our problems because we're facing similar challenges and above all, we share a common goal; freedom for all mankind.

To many more years of Iraq the Model, fellows. Your work is already an inspiration to many of us who work every day to encourage Americans and others in their noblest task. May your democratic Iraq stand as an inspiration to and soon work as a deliverer of the peoples who have not yet joined our world of liberty.