Monday, June 23, 2003

Charley Reese - A Sad Story - how America, by the sheer stupidity of neglecting to plan the rebuilding part of the mission, is losing the peace in Iraq. [lew] [End the War on Freedom] The lot of an occupier is not an easy one. First of all, he is a foreigner who conquered the country. This will breed some resentment even among people who hated Saddam Hussein. Second, he is torn between the need for his own security and the need to win over the people. Third, practically everything the Iraqis are demanding is not in the power of the individual soldier to give them. A GI can't help it if the big shots in the palace headquarters are dragging their feet, but it's the GI, not the big shots, who is exposed to the Iraqi people. Every time our soldiers fire into a crowd, every time they kick down a door in the middle of the night and start jerking people around, they will breed bitter resentment. Some of our soldiers recently killed four young Iraqis who were just firing into the air to celebrate a wedding. It's a custom in that part of the world. T.E. Lawrence called them joy-shots. It's also a custom in that part of the world that every wrong must be avenged. But our soldiers aren't given courses in Arab culture, and they are trained to shoot first and ask questions later. Any man who intended to come home in one piece would have to adopt the same practice. Incidentally, firing into the air to celebrate was an American custom until fairly recently. It's a sad sign of the slow collapse of America that an American no longer even recognizes something that's part of his own culture. 8:49:31 AM    comment ()

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