Iraqi blogger and political activist Omar Fadhil has described his gradual exploration of the free world's moral and intellectual struggle — and his consequent discovery of the left. Though nonchalant, his references to the control of information under Saddam Hussein ("remember, we were isolated so we didn't know much about [the pre-liberation debate]") are a stark picture of the dictator's repression; something about which, he notes, his new acquaintances are quite indifferent.

Omar finishes by declaring himself a liberal — which most rightists should, too, in the immediate sense, their ideas promising far more progressive change than leftists. The sempiternal divide between left and right is moral relativism and absolutism, but that's another discovery for Omar to make. (And an essay for me to research and write.)