Posted on 05/19/2003 8:02:10 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Iraqis wonder if war was worth it
Many question whether winning their freedom justifies losing stability
05/19/2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq – The government buildings not destroyed by American bombs now are ravaged by looters and set ablaze in an unprecedented display of anarchy. Crime is rampant. The economy is crushed. Gas lines stretch for miles in spite of vast oil riches underground.
The list goes on and on. Iraqis can spend hours complaining of all the bad things they say America is doing to ruin their country and make their lives miserable. Regardless of profession or social position, they typically will shout and shake their fists in anger. Some contend their suffering is all a part of a diabolical plan by Washington to steal Iraq's oil.
But one question consistently seems capable of silencing the shouts, unclenching the fists and making Iraqis stop to think about all the sacrifices they've made since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled their leader, Saddam Hussein, five weeks ago: Was all the suffering worth it?
"No. There is no justification for this," Saad Omar, a retired physician, said adamantly as he surveyed the destruction of Baghdad's central telephone exchange. "Imagine what we have been through. Twenty-one days of bombing, more than 250,000 tons of American bombs. We cannot walk down the street at night. There is no security, no electricity, no water, no government, no police."
Then Mr. Omar paused to think about the alternative.
"Saddam Hussein was an unjust man. You have no idea what we lived through while he was here." He paused again. "Okay, it is 50 percent better now, but 50 percent worse."
Another pause. "Maybe, with the future, it will be better. I think it will be better. Yes."
The same question was posed to a number of Iraqis from widely ranging backgrounds: communist anti-war activists, Muslim clerics, students, lawyers, judges, police officers, people sweating their way through long gas lines, even those who lost their homes and saw their children maimed by U.S. bombs.
What is clear from their answers is that the United States is thoroughly unpopular and that Iraqis want American troops to leave as quickly as possible. They also believe that the United States has been far too slow to restore public services and security. The quality of life today is at an all-time low, they say.
At the same time, Iraqis acknowledge they have never been more free to speak their minds, especially when it comes to cursing Mr. Hussein and his Baath Arab Socialist Party, which oppressed them, killed their relatives and made their lives miserable for 35 years.
"Freedom comes at a price. Every step in the right direction requires sacrifices," said Sayyed Bashir al-Musawi, a leading Shiite Muslim cleric who is working in northern Baghdad to install Islamic councils to rule Iraqis at the local level. So far, he has called for cooperation with U.S. authorities and has met regularly with military officers to coordinate security and reconstruction efforts.
"The Iraqi people tried but failed to remove Saddam Hussein for 35 years. It was a difficult task, and we thank the Americans," the cleric said.
"The American announcement was that it would liberate Iraq, free the people, hold elections and then withdraw. ... We remind the Americans that the Iraqi people are capable of taking care of their own affairs."
Long lists of complaints
Across town at the Saddam City District Courthouse, judges and lawyers grew angry and began shouting when asked for their thoughts on the U.S. military occupation.
They blamed U.S. negligence, if not tacit support, for the rampant looting that led to billions of dollars in losses.
Chief Judge Jalal Hashem Tabaneh, who sat on a borrowed chair behind a borrowed metal desk because his own office furniture and law books had been looted, said Iraqis could not regard themselves as free if they are so afraid of criminals that they cannot walk down the street.
"We have lost our freedom. We have lost our security. How can anyone say this is better?" he said. About 20 other barristers gathered around, each with a long list of complaints about unfulfilled U.S. promises.
"We had hoped it would be Iraqis who changed the system, not foreigners. We have sacrificed everything. We have seen nothing of the freedom we were promised – just chaos," said Judge Sahira Hamza. More complaints followed. Some people started shouting.
Sadiq al-Saadi, a court investigator, pushed through the crowd and began shaking his fist in anger. "How is it possible that we have waited a month, and there are no medical supplies, no transportation, no security? Is it deliberate? We know that the Americans have tremendous capabilities to help us. So why are they just concentrating on oil?"
Complaints aside, he was asked whether it would be better to have left Mr. Hussein in power.
The room fell silent. "If the choice is between Saddam or this, I would choose this, of course," Mr. al-Saadi said. "Freedom is worth being patient for. It is a worthwhile sacrifice. We would kill for freedom."
'Not the way to do it'
Not everyone agrees. Feelings of bitterness and betrayal tend to be strongest among Iraqis, such as Fadel Salman al-Iman, who suffered heavy personal losses during U.S. aerial attacks in March and early April.
Mr. al-Iman, 76, lives next door to four homes that were obliterated on April 7 when the United States bombed a residential neighborhood after receiving intelligence that Mr. Hussein was holding a meeting in one of the houses.
The bombing killed Mr. al-Iman's neighbors and destroyed the house he built 40 years ago in Baghdad's upscale Mansour district. "More than 50 or 60 percent of everything I've worked for in my life is gone," he said. "I'm glad Saddam Hussein is gone, but I didn't want it this way. ... This is not the way to do it."
Others say they bear no ill will toward the United States even if they seem to have every reason to hate Americans. With his 5-year-old son maimed and blinded by a U.S. cluster bomb dropped on his residential neighborhood, Mustafa Ghaleb, a shopkeeper, said he blamed Mr. Hussein for his family's suffering, not the United States.
"The Americans are not responsible. They came to make Iraq free," he said.
Even people who claim to be sworn enemies of the United States say they prefer the status quo to life under the old dictatorship.
Lesser of two evils
As he stood on a heavily looted downtown street yelling "Fascists!" and "Torturers!" at American soldiers on patrol, Shamal Ali, a leader of the tiny Worker-communist Party of Iraq, said he was totally opposed to the U.S. occupation of his country. He added that a continued U.S. presence would only increase unrest and instability.
But he acknowledged that he would have been arrested or shot two months ago if he had displayed his party's hammer-and-sickle banner on the streets. If forced to choose the lesser of two evils – Mr. Hussein or a U.S. occupation force – he conceded, "I would choose the U.S."
E-mail: trobberson@hotmail.com
(Assuming that's the case,) Do these people have any clue about the fact that, unless the U.S. had risked and sacrificed lives, these people would have neither the freedom nor the opportunity to say such a thing?
In any case, many folks including retired physicians had to support Saddam in order for him to stay in control.
It is not our job to go around the world freeing people. If it is, we have alot of work to do right here in our own hemisphere.
10-4. These people are professional whiners, mostly. Let's see what the tone is on the street in 6 to 8 months. Different, I expect.
There are disturbing reports that the pace of reconstruction over there is being held up by American bureaucracy (see http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/57641.htm).
This story is like interviewing British loyalists after the American revolution.
In the same vein, go over to Russia now and there is a large minority of people who would gladly go back to the old Soviet style of government because they want the stability and would gladly sacrifice freedom to get it.
There are people like this in every society. They are best ignored.
Thanks for that post !
hehe ! Reminds me of Registered's latest work . . .
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.