THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VI, Issue # 152, June 11, 2004
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WHAT REAL IRAQIS ARE SAYING
By Alan Caruba
FULL STORY:
In mid-June, 2004, there was a report of a poll of Iraqis commissioned by the Coalition Provisional Authority, a poll in which more
than half of Iraqis reportedly believed they would be safer if U.S. troops left Iraq. I found myself wondering about the validity of the
poll when I visited an Internet website where Iraqis can blog about what is happening in their lives and in their nation. If the website
is any kind of an indicator, the CPA-commissioned poll is wrong.
If common sense is any kind of indicator, the poll is wrong. In the run-up to the transfer of power to a sovereign Iraqi provisional
government, the enemies of freedom escalated their indiscriminate bombings and Iraqis were advised to stay off the streets. If the U.S.
forces had withdrawn prior to or right after the transfer of power, the streets of Iraqi cities would run red with the blood of its citizens.
They know that.
Everything we read and hear about events in Iraq comes to us filtered by a news media that is more interested in body counts,
assassinations, and bombings of various facilities there. Other sources of information are available, but most of us don’t have the time
to check them out, and then there’s the problem of sorting out the “spin” of various government spokespersons, whether ours or
theirs.
That’s why www.Iraqataglance.blogspot.com, is especially valuable to
anyone trying to understand what is actually going on in a nation struggling against many forces, internal and external, to emerge from
three decades of Saddam Hussein’s oppression into a genuinely sovereign and self-governing constitutional democracy.
Since what we mostly see on television are the bombed-out skeletons of automobiles or oil pipelines set ablaze or armed militias
parading, the tendency is to forget that Iraq is home to millions of well-educated people pursuing various professions and eager to
embrace freedom. Theirs is a future that is utterly dependent on the will of Americans to see the liberation of Iraq through to a
conclusion that benefits Iraqis, the Middle East, our strategic objectives, and, finally, a world threatened by an Islamic holy war.
The Internet website provides Iraqis the opportunity to express themselves, and, of particular value to Americans, it is in English, a
second language for many educated Iraqis. The site is maintained by “AYS,” a dentist who lives in Baghdad. Those who blog on it
likewise identify themselves only by their initials.
In mid-June, AYS reflected on those who had been blaming Americans for their current problems, writing:
“Some people gave up accusing the Americans and turned to someone they forgot to make (them)
share their favorite games: conspiracies. ‘Israel is behind all the ongoing assassinations in Iraq!’
These words are heard directly among people and indirectly on the Arab channels … 'Israel does
not want Iraq to progress and live in peace…’ and many more silly opinions.”
In a nation undergoing a painful transition, rumors of conspiracies abound and, indeed, America is rife with conspiracy theories as
well, conspiracy theories concerning our own affairs and those of others. What makes this interesting is that, throughout the
Middle East, Israel is always given as the reason for anything that goes wrong.
AYS went on to note:
“The good thing in Iraq is that most Iraqis do not care for the ‘Arab nation’ and other ‘nationalistic’
concepts. They realized that they had nothing but pain from them and Iraqis were suffering under
Saddam Hussein, while the Arabs were clapping for him, and now they are exporting their terrorists
to help us in building our country! So, Iraqis started to think as Iraqis, not as Arabs, and together
with democratic changes, Iraq will witness a great future.”
Thus, for AYS and many other Iraqis, the idea that Israel is to blame for their current problems, and the notion of Arabs united for
their mutual benefit, are beginning to give way to a sense of being citizens of a sovereign nation whose neighbors are actually the
real threat to their new, great hope for constitutional democracy and its benefits.
Commenting on Muqtada Al-Sadr, AYS said in mid-June:
“It seems like Iraqis are about to kill Muqtada for his arrogance and the increasing bad reputation …
he’s making trouble for everyone. There are many people talking about what Muhammed Sadiq
Al-Sadr (Muqtada’s father) was saying about him. He had never respected his son.”
AYS then relates that Iraqis regard Muqtada as a thief and a lowlife.
“We need the American troops. We need the Coalition even after June 30. It’s dangerous to leave
Muqtada free. I think he’s more dangerous than the other terrorists. The new Iraqi government
must not get cold feet and refuse to arrest him.”
In early June, AYS said:
“It’s so elegant to look at the new Iraqi government with all its respectable men…It’s so important
for any country to have such a government with all those qualifications to run that state in a
correct way.”
This is why, in the run-up to the June 28 turnover of sovereignty, the enemies of constitutional democracy were trying to kill the
new government’s leaders.
There are many other bloggers on this website and they speak of the level of crime that still exists in Iraqi cities, the need for
more electricity, and other everyday problems that are, by all accounts, being addressed. A nation whose previous police
authorities were often little more than thugs will need time to fashion a new police force that respects the rule of law and a judicial
system that administers the law fairly. It will need border guards and a military that can and will function effectively. None of this
will happen overnight, but, with patience and perseverance, it can and will happen.
Iraq also needs the patience and perseverance of the American people. Our military will need to be there a long time to assist the
building of a new nation from scratch. The good news is that, among Iraq’s intelligentsia and its middle class, there is plenty of
talent and the will to achieve a nation that can and will function in the modern world.
The modern world, i.e., Western ideas and values, are what the enemies of progress and nationhood in Iraq fear most. It is the
reason that the Third Great Jihad is being waged against the United States of America and against the West.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
The Middle East & the Arabs
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, Communications Director of the American Policy Center,
and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly
column, "Warning Signs," posted on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center
(www.anxietycenter.com). A compilation of his past columns, entitled Warning Signs, is published by Merril Press. In addition
to Warning Signs, Caruba is the author of A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam and The United Nations vs. the United States,
both of which are available from the National Anxiety Center, 9 Brookside Road, Maplewood, New Jersey, 07040.
Copyright 2004 Alan Caruba
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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