Page 2 of
2 A bitter taste to Iraqi
reality By Dahr
Jamail
Tahir, on the other hand, has
a warning: "It seems that all US politicians and
the majority of Americans think the way McCain
does. But they should not think Iraq is Japan or
South Korea."
Mahri'i agrees: "Such
leaders will write the final page of history for
their country. If Americans keep electing such
adventurers, then I can see the end of their
country approaching fast."
Professor
Hassan states what is clearly on the minds of many
Iraqis as the occupation grinds on and the
American presidential race revs up, though she may
be more charitable than many of
her
compatriots:
Most Americans figured out the real
reasons behind the invasion of Iraq and the
terrible consequences of that war for them,
currently and in the future. The American people
I know are kind, considerate and understanding.
I am sure they will do what it will take to end
this occupation. They know by now that this is
not a war of the American people; it is the oil
companies' war, so why should they sacrifice
their young men and women for oil companies'
greed?
Last October, speaking of the
US-led invasion and occupation at Stanford
University, where he is now a visiting fellow of
the Hoover Institute, former CENTCOM Commander
General John Abizaid told the audience, "Of course
it's about oil, we can't really deny that."
Abizaid's comment came roughly a month after
former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan
wrote in his memoir, "I am saddened that it is
politically inconvenient to acknowledge what
everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about
oil."
While many in the US, along with
Bush administration officials and leading
presidential candidates (both Democratic and
Republican) continue to refuse to grasp the
magnitude of the catastrophe that is the
occupation of Iraq, Iraqis don't have the same
luxury.
Early on in my time in Iraq,
during the first year of the occupation, the
Iraqis I met were generally quick to differentiate
between the policies of the US government and the
desires of the American people.
Over time,
after brutal US military operations against cities
like Najaf, Fallujah, al-Qa'im, Samarra and
Ramadi, after the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, after
Haditha, after the near-total collapse of their
country's infrastructure and the shredding of its
social fabric, I began to witness occupation-weary
Iraqis ceasing to draw that same critical line.
Recently, a resident of Baquba (who asked
not to be identified by name for fear of
retribution for talking to the media), told my
Iraqi colleague Ahmed Ali, "The lack of security
is a direct result of the occupation. The
Americans crossed thousands of miles to destroy
our home and kill our men. They are the reason for
all our disasters."
Abu Tariq, a merchant
from Baquba, believes the US military
intentionally destroyed Iraq's infrastructure. He
told Ali,
The Americans destroyed the
electricity, water-pumping stations, factories,
bridges, highways, hospitals, schools, burnt the
buildings, and opened the borders for the
strangers and terrorists to get easily into the
country. The one who does all these things is
void of humanity. I hate America and Americans.
Abu Taiseer, another resident of
Baquba, summed up Iraqi bitterness this way:
At the very beginning of the
occupation, the people of Iraq did not realize
the US strategy in the area. Their strategy is
based on destruction and massacres. They do
anything to have their agenda fulfilled. Now,
Iraqis know that behind the US smile is hatred
and violence. They call others violent and
terrorists while what they are doing in Iraq and
in other countries is the origin and essence of
terror.
Jalal al-Taee, a retired
teacher, told Ali what more Iraqis than ever
likely believe:
In Baquba, people have severe hatred
towards the Americans and a large number of
residents have become enemies of the US Army.
The people of Diyala province have been
oppressed and treated unjustly by the US army
and the [Baghdad] government. In order to
improve the situation, the US army should let
the people of this city rule it by
themselves.
Dahr Jamail, an
independent journalist, is the author of the
recently published Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches
from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied
Iraq(Haymarket Books, 2007). Over
the past four years, Jamail has reported from
occupied Iraq as well as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan,
and Turkey. He maintains a website, Dahr Jamail's
Mideast Dispatches, with all his writing.
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