The Power of Shame (Source of Sunni enmity)

National Review Online ^ | 12/13/04 (on NRO) | Steven Vincent

[timpad]

EDITOR'S NOTE:This is the first in a five-part series of excerpts from In the Red Zone by Steven Vincent. Together they constitute Chapter 4, "The 'Resistance.'"

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win. — Michael Moore

She was a Sunni Muslim, an attractive, thirty-something writer, one of the few women I met who eschewed a scarf in public. And she was overjoyed at the demise of Saddam. "I am so happy! Freedom at last! The world is open to me now!" she exclaimed during a small social function at an art gallery in Karada. "Can you recommend some American magazines I might send my writing to?"

I promised I'd draw up a list of suitable periodicals, then added — carelessly, for this was my first trip to Iraq — "You must not mind seeing American soldiers on the streets."

The woman's smile vanished. Her brow darkened and she shook her head. "Oh, no. I hate the soldiers. I hate them so much I fantasize about taking a gun and shooting one dead."

Stunned by her vehemence, "But American soldiers are responsible for your freedom!" I replied.

"I know," the woman snarled. "And you can't imagine how humiliated that makes me feel."

He was a short, intense, bespectacled lawyer from Baquba, who claimed he had connections with anti-Coalition forces in the Sunni Triangle. As we drove through the desert into Baghdad, "I hate your country," he informed me. "Every time I see a U.S. tank I feel like it is crushing my skull."

Less startled by this expression — for this was my second trip to Iraq — I asked the attorney the cause of his feelings. As if explaining the most self-evident thing in the world, he replied, "America is occupying my country — as a patriot, of course I must resist." He fixed his wire-rimmed gaze on me. "Imagine if a foreign power was occupying America — wouldn't you resist?"

I think of these people each time I read about violence in the Sunni Triangle, that one-hundred-mile area stretching from Tikrit to the north, Ramadi to the east, and Baghdad to the west. I think of similar Iraqi confessions of shame, resentment, or "patriotism" each time I hear of an American soldier or Iraqi civilian killed by an IED, mortar assault, or car bomb. I feel a simmering anger over the pointlessness of these attacks and those aspects of Arab psychology that cling to humiliation and rely on violence to satisfy grievances. And my anger burns hotter when I read comments from the Western media ennobling these murderous "insurgents" by calling them the "Resistance" — or, more horribly, the "Revolution" — ignoring the thousands of Iraqis who risk their lives every day opposing the nihilistic bloodlust of these men.

After more than eighteen months of fighting in Iraq, there seems to be no means of dealing with this insurrection. The Kurds and the Shia (renegade cleric Moqtada al-Sadr notwithstanding) have shown a willingness to negotiate over the future of Iraq — why not the Sunnis? What do they hope to gain from their "guerrilla" war against the U.S. and against the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi? More important, what factors in the Arab Iraqi character lie behind Sunni opposition to a democratic Iraq, and why can't American politicians, military personnel and members of the media seem to understand them?

*******

Nothing is more humiliating to a man than to be the subject of another man's authority. — Arab proverb

We hadn't considered it, those of us who supported the war. After all, it made no sense, it was unreasonable. And yet, the moment I spoke to that woman at the art gallery, I knew: even as they were being liberating from Saddam, Iraqis felt shamed by the fact that they couldn't do the job themselves.

"If only you'd given us more time, we would have risen up and overthrown him," a waiter at the Orient Palace lectured me a couple of days later. "It's terrible, when I think of it," a student at Baghdad University said. "A foreign army has to come across the world to free us from Saddam — who are we, then?" This sense of indignity, of loss of "face," explained the ungracious gratitude many Iraqis evinced toward the U.S. — the "Thanks America, now go home" syndrome. How naïve we were to believe that they would greet our troops with flowers, as Dick Cheney so famously and wrongly predicted. As the Center for Strategic and International Studies explained in a report on Iraq's reconstruction, "the United States should expect continuing resentment and disaffection even if the U.S.-led reconstruction efforts seem to be making positive, incremental improvements to the country according to quantifiable measures. In other words, the occupation will not be judged by the sum of its consequences, but rather qua occupation."

In retrospect, it seems obvious. No one likes being beholden to another for his freedom. The Iraqis consider it incomprehensible that a people with a glorious Sumerian and Babylonian heritage and a country with rich natural resources had to rely on foreigners for rescue. "No wonder civilization began here," said a teacher at the Shabandar café. "We have everything — food, water, oil, minerals." This pride, however, has its negatives. Since Iraq today isn't in much of a position to fulfill its potential, its people often project their sense of superiority outward — most notably on the United States — which only reinforces their sense of national disgrace.

— Steven Vincent is a freelance investigative journalist and art critic living in New York City. He is blogging about Iraq at www.redzoneblog.com.

[timpad]

A take I hadn't seen...

[MisterRepublican]

"...a freelance investigative journalist and art critic living in New York City."

The most important aspect of this story.

[timpad]

I have to admit, I didn't quite follow the whole "we liberated them, and since they couldn't do it themselves, they're blowing us up out of humiliation" thing.

[lormand]

"Oh, no. I hate the soldiers. I hate them so much I fantasize about taking a gun and shooting one dead."

WTF? You have animals actively trying to drive the American soldier out of Iraq so they can put back an evil dictator who can rape these woman at will, and she wants to shoot an American?

Perhaps we should have used some nukes, and be done with the whole war on terror.

[txroadhawg]

"If only you'd given us more time, we would have risen up and overthrown him,"

I think the point is they didnt, couldn't and wouldn't. Not one muslim country would have helped them. They are weak and prefer to be ruled, led around by the nose.

[7.62 x 51mm]

"Islam is", Khataw preaches, "a peaceful religion that is focused on charity and goodwill toward others."

~ and ~

"Not to mention that Islam came to save humanity from ignorance and oppression. Islam is not a threat to any society. Islam calls for harmony and peaceful co-existence with other religions. It does not permit aggression, violence, injustice, or oppression. At the same time, it calls to morality, justice, tolerance, and peace."

Ummmm, no; no it's not. I won't go into *what it is*, as I'd probably get in trouble... aw, what the heck:

Islam, The Cult of Murder™.

Islam, The Cult of Terror™.

Islam, The Cult of Boy-Buggering™.

Islam, The Cult of Women-Chattelling™.

Islam, The Cult of Horror™.

Islam, The Cult of Rape™.

Islam, The Cult of Ritual Killing™.

Islam, The Cult of Beheading™.

Islam, The Cult of Deviants™.

Islam, The Cult of Hate™.

Islam, The Cult of Lies™.

Islam, The Cult of Female Mutilation™.

Islam, The Cult of Death™.

Islam, The Cult of Christian & Jew Killing™.

Islam, The Cult of Infidel Murder™.

Islam, The Cult of The Mentally-Ill™.

Islam, the Cult of Evil™.

Islam, the Cult of Poverty™.

Islam, the Cult of Illiteracy™.

Islam, the Religion of Peace™, and THEY'LL KILL YOU TO PROVE IT!

[Sans-Culotte]

And it was not just about them, anyway. Saddam posed a threat to us in a War on Terror. It would have been nice if the Iraqi people, in the spirit of not harboring terrorists, and complying with the Bush Doctrine had removed the Hussein family from power, but they didn't.

Like all people who live in a terror regime, they were too much in the grip of terror to do much of anything. I do not believe the ones killing Americans are doing so out of resentment. These resentful types quoted in the article are all talk, no action.

[txroadhawg]

In muslin countries, a threat is as good as a dead. They can defend their honor by saying something but dont actually have to do it.

[Ditto]

"A foreign army has to come across the world to free us from Saddam — who are we, then?"

Considering that Saddam robbed, raped, murdered and bankrupted your people over the course of 30 years with nary a challenge from inside, the question answers itself. You're a sheep.

Now you have a rare opportunity for sheep. You can watch the Americans, learn from them, and you just may be able to become a free man and have real pride, not the victims false pride.

[Conservative Canuck]

What are we gonna do with these people? Their brains are f*&%ed. Thye have no sense of civilised decency at all. The sooner the coalition is out, the better, and if they screw up again, just nuke 'em all.

[joesnuffy]

They need to know that they have two choices ..they can be free and democratic...contingent upon having to excise the terrorists among themselves both physically and spiritually....or they can die....

We have to impress this upon each and every one of them....with multiple object lessons..

For them the notion of 'live free or die'....will just have to be a bit different than the commonly held definition...

If they refuse to police themselves and continue to murder our people...then we must take down their numbers and lay their infrastructure so low it will take them several hundred years to recover enough to become a threat to us again....

imo

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Strange people....

of course this is more than likely a Liberal writer searching for his rewards.............From the:

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

Unholy Alliance

by David Horowitz
Hardcover - (September 2004) - $27.95

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the ?Great Satan? with America?s radical Islamic enemies.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See post above............

[prairiebreeze]

I'm not certain these individuals speak for all Sunni's. And even if they do, isn't that just too darned bad.

Prairie

[timpad]

[Da Bilge Troll]

"If only you'd given us more time, we would have risen up and overthrown him"

Beulah the Buzzer says, "Yo tiiiiiime is UP!"

[timpad]

Beulah the Buzzer says, "Yo tiiiiiime is UP!"

Yep, I think three decades was long enough. It's not like they didn't try. Thousands upon thousands lie in mass graves because of various "uprisings" against Saddam. But I agree with the earlier post, I think this is not the opinion of most Sunni.

But then, that's my opinion.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good one...............

[Conservative Canuck]

Bingo. They should be ashamed of the fact they can't govern themselves in a civilized manner, THAT's what they should be ashamed of. But, if you take responsibility for yourselves, then you can't accuse the rest of the world of exploiting you and abusing you.

THis is something I've been thinking about for a while: it's not "The West" they hate. If not the West, it would be someone else. From the savage conquest of Islam in the 8th century, to the Ottoman Empire of the 20th, Arabs and Persians have suffered more from their own leaders and desposts than from any other source. And Arab civilization was destroyed by the Mongols. However, none of these are around anymore to hate and blame, so they've transferred it to "The West." Whether it's Britain, the US or Europe, it's easier to blame them than take responsibility for their own people. Leave 'em to slaughter each other I say, and if they venture forth, as in Afghanistan, NUKE EM!