I think many will find this newspaper opinion piece of interest. It’s straight out of Iraq, by and for Iraqi’s.
It’s good to see the local view point of current events. I recommend reading other articles as well.
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Iraqi views of the liberatorsAugust 18th, 2003 |
 9 comments to Iraqi views of the liberators |
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Wow, that article could have been written by an American soldier! I don’t know who the author is, but if he really is an Iraqi then it’s encouraging that he can understand the position the soldiers are in.
One comment on an editorial that is really very revealing the more you study it.
“It [the occupation] will all be over in a few months. Or so we thought.”
Why did they think that? Certainly President Bush was always pretty clear that it was going to take some time to reconstruct an Iraqi government. This is a great example of the way that opponents of a policy can play the expectation game to sabotage the policy.
The war is not over. Bush never said the war was over. The Iraqi need to be reminded that there still is a war, and that messing with the American soldiers will get you dead.
I thought Bush said that the war had been won and was now over? Maybe this is the sequel already?
I think a little perspective is needed here. While I wouldn’t want to be a troop in Iraq right now, they are a heck of a lot better off that US toops were in Vietnam, Korea or much of World War II.
Soldiering is not just combat assault. It is also things like routine patrols in “Indian Country,” guard duty, and getting mortared in your tent.
We certainly need troops trained in civil affairs and policing for a lot of the patrols, but there is also a guerrilla war going on and we need killers to fight that.
Furthermore, recently it looks like the bad guys have started on sabotage. It may be because it is getting too dangerous to attack U.S. troops directly.
It is nice to see Iraqi’s with the perspective to understand the misery of these troops (something Salam Pax needs to understand a big more), but it is also important to keep it all in perspective.
Nobody had air conditioners in World War II. Few did in Vietnam. Many do in Iraq (and many do not).
Soldiering is tough. That’s why we respect those guys so much and must be thankful for their sacrifices. But so far, in a historical sense, Iraq has not been that bad.
Mad Dog:
Bush never said the war was over, he said “major combat operations” were over.
Better to dicker over the differences in meaning between “war” and “major combat operations” than what the meaning of “is” is. 😉
Bush was also talking about “the Battle of Iraq”. A battle isn’t the same as a war, either.
So Bush claimed that the major combat operations (not the war) of the Battle (not War) of Iraq were over; lefties have widely reported him as saying that the war is over; and Bush is the stupid guy who has trouble with language?
This piece had the feel of a Tokyo Rose broadcast. It seems aimed at the service men and women rather than Iraqis. I say this because it does not mention the obvious solution to all these problems for the poor US soldier. STOP SHOOTING AT THEM!
Instead of decrying the attacks, it complains about the conditions of the soldiers. Instead of an obvious discussion of why they are putting up a wall, they wonder if the wall will be one to “understanding’ instead of just bullets.
Nope, this ain’t for the Iraqis. This is for the troopers over there.
I have a hard time believing this is written by an Iraqi civilian. It seems very Americanized, and I am not saying that because I believe Iraqi’s do not know how to write well, I am saying it looks like an American Soldier wrote it.
How much do the Iraqi’s now about what we do there, how would they know how many weapons were confiscated and how many missions our troops were on.
This looks like some kind of coersion to get sympathy from the American Public.
Let’s get our troops out of there, enough already, the Iraqi’s don’t even want us there, as was said by Chalbi, who is the interim Prime minister in Iraq.