Here is a piece that some will consider "PollyAnna." THE AUSTRALIAN
Hussain Hindawi and John Thomson: A beacon in the desert
17apr03
THERE can be little doubt: Given a fair chance at it, if the Iraqis win democracy this time, they will hold it with all their force and defend it with their lives.
Even diehard royalists, romantically loyal to the British-imposed Hashemite rule that held sway for three decades until deposed in 1958, agree that sentiment is overwhelmingly strong for a Western-style democracy.
The democratic dream is far stronger than the purported divisions among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. At the London conference of Iraqi opposition groups, in fact, there was more tension among factions within each of these communities than between them. One mid-40s leader put it almost poetically: "We are an entire nation that has been kept in the darkest corner of a dungeon. There has been no light, no chance to lead a free life, not a spark of liberty. When we get it this time, we will hold the torch high and never let the flame go out."
Such sentiment may seem melodramatic to those who have not known repression but the hunger among all classes and kinds of Iraqis is deep and gnawing. The trumped-up demonstrations for Saddam Hussein may have looked enthusiastic; in fact, the energy expelled on these occasions was a release of nervous tension at the hopelessly depressing life led by an estimated 90 per cent of the population.
REST AT:http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6296210%255E7583,00.html |
