'THE Iraqi Intifada!" This is the cover story offered by Al- Watan Al-Arabi, a pro- Saddam Hussein weekly published in Paris. It finds an echo in the latest issue of America's Time magazine, which paints a bleak prospect for the newly liberated country. The daily Al Quds, another pro-Saddam paper, quotes from The Washington Post in support of its claim that "a popular war of resistance" is growing in Iraq. Some newspapers in the United States, Britain and "old Europe" go further by claiming that Iraq has become a "quagmire" or "another Vietnam." The Parisian daily Le Monde prefers the term "engrenage," which is both more chic and French.
This chorus wants us to believe that most Iraqis regret the ancien regime, and are ready to kill and die to expel their liberators.
Sorry, guys, this is not the case.
Neither the wishful thinking of part of the Arab media, long in the pay of Saddam,
I do not believe the Arab press is still in the pay of Saddam nor do I think they are taking an anti American stance because they are in love with Saddam.
nor the visceral dislike of part of the Western media for George W. Bush and Tony Blair changes the facts on the ground in Iraq.
I can agree with that.......there is a growing dislike and distrust of Bush and Blair in the media. That is a relatively recent phenomenom. In fact, the press has been accused of being too accommodating when Bush/Blair wanted to go to war.
ONE fact is that a visitor to Iraq these days never finds anyone who wants Saddam back.
With the exception of the Ba'athists, I would hope not.
There are many complaints, mostly in Baghdad, about lack of security and power cuts. There is anxiety about the future at a time that middle-class unemployment is estimated at 40 percent. Iraqis also wonder why it is that the coalition does not communicate with them more effectively. That does not mean that there is popular support for violent action against the coalition.
I think they should chill with the complaints and be a little understanding but that's me.
Another fact is that the violence we have witnessed, especially against American troops, in the past six weeks is limited to less than 1 percent of the Iraqi territory, in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," which includes parts of Baghdad.
That's bull......much of the attacks have been in Bagdad but there have been attacks to the north, east and west. And they would be more in the south but the Brits have control of that part of the country.....just recently 6 Brits were killed.
Elsewhere, the coalition presence is either accepted as a fact of life or welcomed. On the 4th of July some shops and private homes in various parts of Iraq, including the Kurdish areas and cities in the Shiite heartland, put up the star-spangled flag as a show of gratitude to the United States.
That's wonderful......I am glad to hear it. Last nite, T. Brokaw had report on NBC showing some very pro American episodes with Iraqis.
"We see our liberation as the start of a friendship with the U.S. and the U.K. that should last a thousand years," says Khalid Kishtaini, one of Iraq's leading novelists. "The U.S. and the U.K. showed that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Nothing can change that."
I will be happy if we can just get out in a couple of years. BTW, novelists are always full of such platitudes. <g>
In the early days of the liberation, some mosque preachers tested the waters by speaking against "occupation." They soon realized that their congregations had a different idea. Today, the main theme in sermons at the mosques is about a partnership between the Iraqi people and the coalition to rebuild the war-shattered country and put it on the path of democracy.
I am not buying this one..........the Shiites I've seen listen to their aytollah and not the other way around.
Yet another fact is that all 67 of Iraq's cities and 85 percent of the smaller towns now have fully functioning municipalities. Several ministries, including that of health and education, have also managed to get parts of their operations going again. The petroleum industry, too, is being revived with plans to produce up to 2.8 million barrels of crude oil a day before the year is out.
More progress.......that's good. The oil output sounds impressive until you realize that until a month ago, they were expecting that level of production by Sept. at the latest.
MOST hospitals are functioning again with essential medical supplies trickling in for the first time since 1999. Also, some 85 percent of primary and secondary schools and all but two of the nation's universities have reopened with a full turnout of pupils and teachers.
The difference is that there no longer are any mukahebrat (secret police) agents roaming the campuses and sitting at the back of classrooms to make sure lecturers and students do not discuss forbidden topics. Nor are the students required to start every day with a solemn oath of allegiance to the dictator.
Good news..........
Much is made of power cuts, especially in Baghdad. But this is partly due to a 30 percent seasonal increase in demand because of air-conditioning use in temperatures that reach 115 degrees. In other cities - for example, Basra - the country's second-most populous urban center, more electricity is used than at any time under Saddam Hussein.
The power cuts are due to sabotage........that fact can not be ignored.
The flower stalls along the Tigris are also making a comeback.
I wonder if they will put in lofts in the bldgs. on the Tigris? <g>
THERE are two Iraqs today: One as portrayed by those in America and Europe who wish to use it as a means of damaging Bush and Blair, and the other as it really exists, home to 24 million people with many hopes and aspirations and, naturally, some anxiety about the future.
I'm sorry; this is propaganda bs......there is only one Iraq where there is both progress and setbacks. Neither part can be ignored at this point.
"After we have aired our grievances we remember the essential point: Saddam is gone," says Mohsen Saleh, a geologist in Baghdad. "A man who is cured of cancer does not complain about a common cold."
Then why are they complaining about power cuts and gas lines?
ted |
