Posted on 11/16/2003 12:59:58 PM PST by swilhelm73
OUR ORWELL: Is there any journalist one trusts more than John F. Burns to tell us what is going on in Iraq? Somehow, Burns is untainted with the cynicism and reflexive anti-Americanism of many of his journalistic peers, and yet is open to the nuances of a complicated and often surprising world. His despatch from Iraq today in the NYT is peerless. Not just beautifully written, deep while never seeming less than conversational, it makes a couple of really important points. First off:
The amiability that greets a Westerner almost everywhere outside the Sunni triangle, and even there when American troops are not around, masks a reflex commonly found among people emerging from totalitarian rule: the sense of individual and collective responsibility is numbed, often to the point of passivity. The Iraqis' instinct to blame their rulers for life's hardships, engendered by Mr. Hussein's regime and at the same time silenced by it, is the Americans' burden now.We have to keep reminding ourselves of the context from which these beleaguered people have emerged. It's perhaps impossible for any of us to feel in our bones the psychological hell of living in a police state like Saddam's. But these people are still, for the most part, in post-traumatic shock. This country will take time to heal. Each day I read of deaths of American soldiers or Italian policemen or Iraqi innocents and feel punched in the stomach by these losses. We cannot forget the human dimension to these tragedies and the pain that spreads from them. At the same time, it strikes me now, more than ever, that what we are trying to do in Iraq right now is as just as it is difficult, as vital as it is constantly grueling. We must win. I leave you with Burns' peroration:
Gesturing toward the smoking hulk of the headquarters where at least 19 Italians and 13 Iraqis died, I asked the crowds if they thought America and its allies should pack up and go home. In the clamor that followed, I asked for quiet so that each man and boy could speak his mind. Unscientific as the poll was, the sentences that flowed expressed a common belief.If only Mike Kelly were around to go there as well.
"No, no!" one man said. "If the Americans go, it will be chaos everywhere." Another shouted, "There would be a civil war."
"If the Americans, the British or the Italians leave Iraq, we will be handed back to the flunkies of Saddam, the Baathists and Al Qaeda will take over our cities," another man said.
Nobody offered a dissenting view, though many said it would be best if the Americans achieved peace and left as soon as possible. These people, at least, seemed concerned that America should know that the bombers, whoever they were, did not speak for the ordinary citizens of Iraq.
"If the Americans, the British or the Italians leave Iraq, we will be handed back to the flunkies of Saddam, the Baathists and Al Qaeda will take over our cities,"
More comfirmation of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
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