Date: Mon Mar 29 2004 12:24
trotsky (@Iraq) ID#377387:
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saw an interesting documentary on Iraq over the weekend. the twist was that the team went to Iraq shortly before, and shortly after the invasion. they interviewed the same people twice ( essentially people from all walks of life, Sunnis , Shiites, old and young ones, scientists, students, simple laborers, etc... ) , so first those people had to watch what they said because a regime 'minder' was around, and the second time around they could speak freely.
the gist of it: not even the ones that were tortured and imprisoned by Saddam ( one of the scientists e.g. spent 12 years at Abu Ghraib in the most inhumane conditions imaginable ) had a good word to say about the occupiers. the general thrust of opinion was that Saddam had been a US client and did his evil deeds with US connivance, and that the invasion did not take place because the US likes the Iraqi people so much, but because they sit atop a lot of oil.
whether justified or not, that is what the inhabitants of Iraq seem to think. in short, the occupation is in huge trouble...the Iraqis are without a doubt happy that Saddam is gone, but have no gratitude toward those who removed him. in fact, the officially forwarded motives are widely disbelieved.
the most frightening picture was a Shi'ite prayer meeting attended by a huge throng of people...the imam shouted anti-occupation slogans which were then repeated, mantra-like, by the mass of people. it looked like one of those surreal mass-meetings in Nazi Germany.
what an incredible mess. |
