Posted on 05/16/2004 5:19:23 PM PDT by redrock
Grow Up!
Prior to the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom last year, I wrote that we would not find easy allies among the Iraqi people. It had nothing to do with Muslim disdain for Westerners. It had nothing to do with Iraqi fears of Western colonization. It had nothing to do with oil. It had completely to do with the average Iraqi’s horrific fear of his own government and its vast network of informants and enforcers.
The average Iraqi still possesses that fear. This cannot be emphasized enough. There remain very few Iraqi citizens willing to risk their lives in a public show of support for U.S. and coalition forces given the longstanding tendency of our civilian leadership to cut and run when the political establishment and their news media allies turn up the heat. And despite President Bush’s insistence on staying the course, he has already relented somewhat by promising to relinquish power to the Iraqis on a very premature June 30.
The recent flap over prisoner mistreatment will not help. Yes of course it is disdainful that U.S. soldiers would be implicated in such behavior. It is also incredibly stupid. It is unlikely that the cataloged humiliation would help interrogators much, if, as alleged, that were the goal. Indeed, once the prisoners figured out no harm would come to them, anger and a renewed determination to resist would likely replace their fear. Nothing infuriates a man like humiliation.
Finally, I can’t imagine what anyone hoped to gain by taking pictures. In this day and age it would be inconceivable to think that they would not appear in the press at some point. If I didn’t know better, I would be tempted think it was a setup designed to cripple the war effort. Yet every time I think people have reached the pinnacle of stupidity, someone comes along and proves me wrong.
There is no doubt this behavior points up problems in the discipline and training of those assigned to guard Iraqi POWs as well as a chain of command that did not provide the leadership necessary to prevent such abuse from occurring. But let’s put it in perspective. Who among those critics out there could look a bereaved mother in the face and tell her that her son had to die because international protocols, routinely and flagrantly violated by every other nation on earth (including Iraq), prevented the coercion necessary to extract vital tactical intelligence from a captured Iraqi?
Given the fact that there are over 100,000 troops currently stationed in Iraq, these few incidents pale in comparison to all the good they have accomplished. Compared with pre-war conditions, the average Iraqi has more freedom, security and economic opportunity than he’s had in thirty years, even with roadside bombs and the other forms of random terror.
Furthermore, if compared to the rate of abusive incidents that occur among our own civilian population, not to mention the intimidation, torture and murder suffered by Iraqis at the hands of their countrymen, these incidents should be put in the perspective they deserve. But don’t expect to hear much about that from our esteemed Fourth Estate or politicians.
This is a political year. It is an unfortunate reality of modern American politics that partisan politicians will use unfortunate revelations like this for strictly self-serving political purposes, regardless of the consequences to the war effort, our national security, our global standing or anything else. Disgraceful but true. The incidents have already been disingenuously mischaracterized as a “coverup” and we can expect more such heated rhetoric as long as politicians see an advantage to it.
And this is precisely what worries the average Iraqi.
The average Iraqi now fears, with increasing justification, the resurrection of a Ba’athist regime or some other form of radical totalitarian state following the U.S. withdrawal. While we have defeated Saddam’s army, the internal security forces of Saddam’s Iraq remain virtually everywhere. The average Iraqi knows that they remain pervasive. Paul Bremer’s unflinching dedication to “deba’athification” recognized this fact, and the decision to de-emphasize this policy strikes yet another blow to the establishment of a free and stable Iraq. Given that his trial is likely to occur years after we have left, it is even conceivable (to Iraqis at least) that Saddam could return to power.
Those Iraqis who willingly put their faces before a camera face grave personal risks if they publicly support the coalition and they know it. Thirty years of terror and one million deaths taught them a bit of reticence. It goes to reason therefore, that those who willingly speak to the Western media have one of two motivations. Either they are members of the old regime, with a vested interest in discrediting our efforts in Iraq, or they are private citizens ingratiating themselves to the still-pervasive regime underground or other insurgent groups operating among them. Few others dare speak publicly.
Journalists often consult the same person – who just happens to speak good English – over and over. Is it a coincidence that he speaks good English or that he happily offers his opinion? Some even rely on the contacts they had before the war, people who could have only been Ba’athists. Does it never occur to journalists that they are being used? It astounds me that our vaunted “investigative” news media have not caught on to this. Their interviews with the Iraqi “man on the street” are offered to us uncritically, as though they were interviewing someone on the streets of Des Moines, Iowa. Our intrepid reporters demonstrate all the shrewdness of a well-fed cow.
We should therefore, not take the highly publicized Iraqi “outrage” over the prison abuse scandal at face value. How do you suppose the average Iraqi really feels about prisoner “abuse”? Many of those languishing in Abu Ghraib prison were active participants in Saddam’s repressive regime. In fact, most are diehard Ba’athist holdouts, and as such were likely complicit in Saddam’s grossest crimes. Many Iraqi families have lost at least one member to these people. Others have been horribly tortured. Still more suffered under an economic system designed to benefit only the Ba’athists. Virtually all lived in daily fear.
No, if the average Iraqi feels outrage, it is that those prisoners have gotten off so easily. I shudder to think what would happen to insurgents captured by average Iraqis. They would suffer the blind rage of a people terrorized for thirty years. They would be murdered in the streets. (Indeed some were in the beginning of the war before the captives found refuge in the relatively safe haven of coalition detainment).
Humiliation does not equate to torture. It does not recompense for rape and mutilation. It is not payback for murder. It is woefully inadequate retribution for those who suffered so gravely and long under these mass murderers.
Not only will average Iraqis feel outrage, but they will feel despair. They will realize that we have, if anything, handed our mutual enemy, the Iraqi Ba’aths and their international supporters, a psychological weapon. They will feel despair with the knowledge that we have virtually no chance of extracting crucial intelligence information from detainees if this is how we conduct our interrogations. And if we can’t get the intelligence, we can’t ferret out the remaining terror infrastructure that continues to threaten average Iraqis on a daily basis.
They will also feel disgust – disgust at a supposed “global power” immobilized by such a puny scandal. Can’t we stand up for ourselves better than this? The aberrant behavior of a dozen or so people does not define our nation. Can’t we articulate that?
Finally, the world outrage smacks of hypocrisy. Where was the outrage when four American noncombatants were brutally murdered and mutilated in the streets of Iraq? Where was the outrage when an Israeli woman and her carload of children were executed at point-blank rage by Palestinian terrorists? Where is the outrage over the videotaped beheading of 26-year-old Nicholas Berg, an American civilian volunteer, in Iraq?
Where was the outrage when American servicemen were routinely tortured in North Vietnamese prisons? Some Americans rejoiced in the knowledge! During the Korean War, U.S. POWs were spirited of to Russia and used in experiments to determine the ability of the human body to withstand torture. Where was the outrage? Where was justice served then?
Judging by the media’s reaction, you would think we were the Khmer Rouge. Instead, what we have is a dozen or so unfathomably mindless idiots, abusing their power in a war zone by engaging in revolting – but it must be said – largely harmless humiliation of Iraqi prisoners, who are probably secretly thanking their lucky stars they haven’t received the punishment they deserve.
An unholy international alliance of coalition opponents, including disgracefully, a significant portion of our domestic body politic, threatens to derail our noble, and to a large extent successful, effort in Iraq. I refuse to stand by silently while another tiny-minded political squabble attempts to squander the precious blood sacrifices of our brave youths for the sake of short-term political gain.
Grow up, people and get over it! This is not what America is about and this is not serving either our interests or those of the long-suffering Iraqi people.
Jim Simpson is a Contributing Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at
one.wonders@verizon.net. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com
redrock
redrock
This guy does rock!
redrock
redrock
Bump for a great article!
redrock
redrock
redrock
Selective Outrage on Iraq Is Sickening
"But a strange double standard seems at work. The pictures of abused Iraqis and the accused soldiers are plastered all over the media, yet the horrific pictures of Americans dying in the 9/11 attacks have been buried as too “inflammatory.” Gone are the pictures of those leaping from the World Trade Center to avoid death in the inferno. Also absent from the media are the pictures of celebration in the Middle East of our 9/11 tragedy. So to you American journalists, who lost one of your brethren, Daniel Pearl, to these vermin, where is your outrage at this?
About one year ago a CNN journalist admitted that while assigned to Baghdad before the war he covered up Saddam’s atrocities. The reason, he said, was that he did not want the regime to close CNN’s news bureau and wanted access to Saddam. Yet there was no outrage of this, nor was this journalist fired for “sitting” on this story. The stories of Saddam’s massive atrocities, and the murder and abuse of American POW’s in Iraqi custody, have received scant attention. We must remember and honor the conduct of the overwhelming majority of our troops, who have performed magnificently under the most trying conditions. They have exercised amazing restraint, even at the risk of their lives. They have avoided collateral damage as much as possible, while our enemies have used sanctuaries and civilians for cover.
Justice should – and will – be done. But we will not win the war, or successfully conduct this investigation, by beating ourselves publicly. Our expressed outrage only encourages our enemies to greater resistance, and more horrific atrocities. If casualties increase, it is not just the fault of those accused of the abuse, but also those who have chosen to sensationalize it." "
They should have used my idea instead (though my method would have drawn more rath from liberals and the press...not to mention the A.C.L.U.). I proposed that we play the audio Bible (our Bible) in Arabic from Genesis to Revelations over an intercom system 24 hours day and night, seven days a week with nice Aramaic background music to an Arabic narator like the equivalent of an Alexander Scorby... There would be breaks at times for Christian hyms sung in Arabic and teaching tapes by well-respected preachers who were converted former muslims who now preach and teach in Arabic that Islam is a lie and Y'eshua is the only way to eternal life.
With the Holy Spirit and the angels working in the background, I wounder what sort of effet it would have had? If nothing else, to Fedayeen and Al Qaeda...it would either be salvation or torture.
Some people won't go there and look...because the site was founded by David Hackworth.
redrock
this ought to get nailed to the door at The Weekly Standard, which this week, is more aptly titled, "The Weakly Standard."
Excellent. BTW redrock, did you read the story about Gen. Latif (the Iraqi general put in charge of Fallujah) speaking at the town council? He told them the sooner they cooperated with the US the sooner the US would help them rebuild and leave. :o)
This guy gets it
Amazing...an ex Saddam General 'get's it' and supports President Bush's plan...but you can't find an idiot Democrat anywhere in D.C. who even remotely understands.
Truth is ALWAYS stranger than fiction.
redrock
Looks like a mixed bag of articles. Some really good ones, or what we consider good ones, some advocating the opposite point of view.
And also thanking their lucky stars that they aren't in a prison run by Saddam.
Factiod: The average prisoner released from GITMO weighs 20 lbs more than when he entered the prison. His teeth have been fixed, he has been deloused and dewormed (perhaps for the first time in his miserable life). He has received medical care that he could only dream of in whatever backwater he came from. He has been inoculated against diseases that take out perhaps a third of the population in Afghanistan before they reach their 5th birthday.
And the liberals whine because they don't have access to lawyers.
He is sooooo right.
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