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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Win Smith who wrote (84982)	3/22/2003 5:05:38 PM
From: Win Smith	Respond to of 281500

In Rolling Waves, Blasts Demolish Symbols of Power washingtonpost.com [ a bit at the end of this one gave me pause. ] While Baghdad residents shared their political views much more openly with strangers today than they had in years, reading the public mood remains difficult. Rumors often pass as news in Baghdad, and with war underway, Iraqi media have shifted almost entirely to programming nationalist songs dedicated to Hussein, patriotic poems, religious exhortations and appeals to Iraqi nationalism. But beneath the bluster, deeper anxiety seems to prevail. U.S. officials have declared that the liberation of Iraq is at hand, but few residents in Baghdad, even in private moments, have framed the conflict in those terms. Anxieties over possible destruction resulting from a sustained U.S. air attack were mixed with worries about looting and lawlessness that could follow the government's collapse. "This war was imposed on us," said Affaf al-Naimi, carrying yogurt out of a store in the wealthy neighborhood of Palestine. "Liberate us by bombs? The bombs are going to liberate us? We didn't ask them to liberate us. We sat in our houses relaxed, we were safe, we entertained ourselves. We don't need someone to come here to be our godfather." The intense, submerged anxiety came to the surface in the voices of Abdel-Rahman and his friend Omar. Seated at a restaurant, they at first predicted a quick Iraqi victory, and insisted that Baghdad's calm would prevail. But they later acknowledged deeper fears about the uncertainties that awaited. There were "100 ways to solve this, not by war," Abdel-Rahman said. If chaos ensues, Abdel-Rahman said, he would take his family to Diyala, the neighboring province to the east. If the Americans attempt to take Baghdad by force, they would meet bloody resistance, the men agreed. They seemed to speak sincerely, with foreboding. "Half of Baghdad would have to die to occupy it," Abdel-Rahman said. "How can they kill half of Baghdad?" He turned to a visitor with a look of seriousness: "You should get out of here and escape."