Almighty Colin
03-25-2003, 05:49 AM
Thoughts on the War. Day 6.
Do Iraqis want to be "liberated"? Expecting 100% of a population to react in a certain way would be simple-minded. Many Iraqi's feelings will be mixed. It will probably be true that there will be some celebrations of the end of Saddam's regime, maybe even some massive celebrations. This could certainly be expected given the history of such things. People do not like to live under totalitarian regimes.
Just like many of us are proud of our cultures and identities, Arabs are too. Probably more so on average. They are a great people with a great history. Most of them like THEIR culture, not western culture. I would guess that most non-Iraqi Arabs would much rather see an Arab nation defeat a western coalition than to see the Iraqi people freed from tyranny. It makes sense that many Iraqis themselves would like to see their soldiers perform well and inflict many casualties
on coalition forces even if they do want the end result to be the end of Saddam. Many people are proud of their nations and their militaries. Bloodying the coalition AND ending life under Saddam are not necessarily mutually exclusive propositions to someone living in Baghdad.
Iraqi citizens are hearing about the "difficulties" the coalition is having in asserting absolute control over small towns in Southern Iraq. Certainly, most must feel that any public celebration they wish to engage in would be premature at this point.
This is a war. People are dying. Many, many Iraqi soldiers are dying and they have families back home that will have broken hearts and have their lives ripped apart. Republican Guards have families too. Some will blame the US. Some will blame Saddam. Some will blame both. Some will blame neither.
Certainly many Iraqi citizens will view the coalition as liberators - especially the Kurds. I saw this week one Kurdish family has named their boys "George Bush" and "Dick Cheney". Certainly the repressed Shiite majority and SOME of the Sunnis will. I don't think this will last long. If history is any indication, very quickly the Iraqi people will no longer view the coalition partners in this way. Polls conducted just a year ago showed even Kuwaiti citizens as having a negative view of the US and that is just a decade after a much clearer case of "liberation". Most Iraqis will assimilate, one might even say maintain, their Arab/Muslim values which at it's core at present is anti-Israel, anti-West, anti-US.
When this happens, I will not view Iraqis as "ungrateful". I will them as human and acting in
the most expected way. People don't want to kiss your ass for 50 years just because you
"saved them".
All of this in context. The coalition's goal is to disarm and dismantle Saddam's regime and will do that for our own reasons. That is the measure of success or failure. I think we'll see the celebrations later. We'll probably see them burning our flags in a year.
Last edited by Colin at Mar 25 2003, 08:17 AM
Do Iraqis want to be "liberated"? Expecting 100% of a population to react in a certain way would be simple-minded. Many Iraqi's feelings will be mixed. It will probably be true that there will be some celebrations of the end of Saddam's regime, maybe even some massive celebrations. This could certainly be expected given the history of such things. People do not like to live under totalitarian regimes.
Just like many of us are proud of our cultures and identities, Arabs are too. Probably more so on average. They are a great people with a great history. Most of them like THEIR culture, not western culture. I would guess that most non-Iraqi Arabs would much rather see an Arab nation defeat a western coalition than to see the Iraqi people freed from tyranny. It makes sense that many Iraqis themselves would like to see their soldiers perform well and inflict many casualties
on coalition forces even if they do want the end result to be the end of Saddam. Many people are proud of their nations and their militaries. Bloodying the coalition AND ending life under Saddam are not necessarily mutually exclusive propositions to someone living in Baghdad.
Iraqi citizens are hearing about the "difficulties" the coalition is having in asserting absolute control over small towns in Southern Iraq. Certainly, most must feel that any public celebration they wish to engage in would be premature at this point.
This is a war. People are dying. Many, many Iraqi soldiers are dying and they have families back home that will have broken hearts and have their lives ripped apart. Republican Guards have families too. Some will blame the US. Some will blame Saddam. Some will blame both. Some will blame neither.
Certainly many Iraqi citizens will view the coalition as liberators - especially the Kurds. I saw this week one Kurdish family has named their boys "George Bush" and "Dick Cheney". Certainly the repressed Shiite majority and SOME of the Sunnis will. I don't think this will last long. If history is any indication, very quickly the Iraqi people will no longer view the coalition partners in this way. Polls conducted just a year ago showed even Kuwaiti citizens as having a negative view of the US and that is just a decade after a much clearer case of "liberation". Most Iraqis will assimilate, one might even say maintain, their Arab/Muslim values which at it's core at present is anti-Israel, anti-West, anti-US.
When this happens, I will not view Iraqis as "ungrateful". I will them as human and acting in
the most expected way. People don't want to kiss your ass for 50 years just because you
"saved them".
All of this in context. The coalition's goal is to disarm and dismantle Saddam's regime and will do that for our own reasons. That is the measure of success or failure. I think we'll see the celebrations later. We'll probably see them burning our flags in a year.
Last edited by Colin at Mar 25 2003, 08:17 AM