Photo © Guardian News and Media
On Tuesday, coalition forces entered the center of Baghdad to find a jubilant crowd of Iraqi citizens trying in vain to pull down a metal statue of Saddam that had been commissioned to commemorate his 65th birthday.
Unveiled less than a year ago, the statue was eventually pulled down with the help of a US tank. The cheering crowd pulled the disembodied metal head around the streets of the capital, spitting on it, and, what I remember to be an ultimate insult in Arabic countries, hitting it with the soles of their shoes. The liberating US soldiers were cheered, given flowers, hugged, and praised by the Iraqi people.
I’m hoping that the local reaction was real and heartfelt, not for the benefit of the incoming, conquering troops or the press. It seemed genuine, and I was very happy to hear reports of Iraqi-Americans both discount non-liberation reasons for the invasion and provide full support for the troops.
On the other hand, I listened to an American citizen on the radio today that had served as a volunteer human shield in front of a water treatment plant in Baghdad. She droned on about how the Bush administration had wrongly presented the Iraqi people as the enemy, and how well she has gotten to know them as a wonderful people. I, too, have no quarrel with the people of Iraq. What angered me in this case was the false premise for her argument; the administration has always focused on the removal of the regime — in support of and in the name of the people — other more pronounced reasons aside. Iraqis were never posed as the enemy.
War is not always the best answer, but good will hopefully and eventually come of this once the war is completely over. Then will come the daunting task of rebuilding and stabilizing the region, a task I believe the United States working alone will fail.
Sorry, but just for clarification… It wasn’t a ‘Tank’ that pulled down the Saddam statue. It was an M-88 Tank Recovery Vehicle. They tag along with the Tank and Amtrac platoons in the Marine Corps.
I stand corrected. The M-88 was equipped with a crane, not often found on the average tank. – RDL
In response to your ‘Jubilation of Iraqis’ quote, you should really check out the website http://www.indymedia.org as it’s very good. As for rebuilding Iraq, the US is always at the forefront of rebuilding Iraq; it’s worth a lot of money. They did it in 1963 and after the Gulf war. I believe they were there right after the end of the Iran-Iraq conflict as well (where they played for both teams as we well know). Please don’t sit there and kid yourself that any of this has ever been for the good of the people. That’s what the powers that be tell the likes of you and me so we don’t feel affronted by their actions. These things are nothing to do with the people. If it was, then why did the US encourage an uprising after the gulf war and then leave the people to be slaughtered. Western interference in Iraq’s affairs has been going on since before the fall of the Ottomans. That shows a huge amount of regard for Iraqi people doesn’t it? I also suggest you read a book called Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge by Said Aburish. Gives a pretty balanced account of things. Or, of course, you can sit there accepting what you see on CNN and patting yourself on the back and chanting ‘USA! USA!’ because Bush is on an Aircraft carrier 20 miles of Cali in a flight suit dishonoring a fighting man’s uniform.
We all know that the real reason for the war had nothing to do with humanitarian causes, but I still believe that the people are better off without Saddam. Did Bush have blinders on with regards to ousting Saddam? Yes. Were his top reasons justificable for invasion? No. Will the Iraqi people eventually benefit? I say a wholehearted “Yes!” – RDL