OVER THERE
by Michael Hammerschlag
Lately, I’ve been considering whether Bush’s fourth
justification for the Iraq War: we are fighting them there so they won’t
come here isn’t completely without merit. After all,
there have, incredibly, been no attacks in
America since 9-11. And creating a theme
park for jihadists in Iraq certainly has
kept them occupied. It was brought home to
me by a friend in Hawaii. “I believe that. Hey, I’m a lifelong Democrat.
But there haven’t been any attacks here.”
Again and again this is mentioned by US troops
as the rationale for their struggle and suffering,
and it seems logical.
But it breaks down on closer examination.
First, there’s the madness of creating a
vicious insurgent war in a place that didn’t
have one. No matter how many times Bush and
the neocons say so, there were no terrorists directed at America
in Iraq before the invasion*, until we invaded and created them. Perhaps
Iraq has functioned as a gigantic bug zapper
for jihadi mosquitoes- where were the suicide
bomber when Saddam reigned?- but most fanatics
are home grown. Was it really worth the immense
price in lives and treasure? The Arabs who
flocked to fight the good fight in Iraq weren’t
planning or able to mount attacks on America.
Maybe in Iraq, they will get the training
to do so: a prison university for criminals,
except it’s Al Qaida training terrorists.
There was a fierce fire in Afghanistan, but
lacking much fuel in population or fervor.
Special Forces and CIA brilliantly extinguished
the fire by routing the Taliban and their
Qaida colleagues in record time, but glowing
pockets persisted in hideouts. Rather than
keep spreading foam on the coals of Islamic
grievance and paranoia as we hunted OBL and
his minions, George Bush 2 found an immense
stand of old growth sequoias and redwoods
a thousand miles away and torched them, creating
a conflagration that seems to be growing
exponentially. The forest there was carpeted
by hundreds of years of kindling and deadwood
in the hatreds, oppressions, and murders
between religious, tribal, and ethnic factions.
But fighting terrorism is about extinguishing
the maniacs who started fires and their handiwork,
not starting a monstrous blaze in a stable
and quiet backwater.
The miserably named “war on terrorism”
has always been partly a struggle for minds-
which we’ve been losing at the speed of light.
From failing to lift a finger to control
the Palestinian Israeli conflict, to talk
of crusades, to invading Iraq based on nonexistent WMD’s, this
administration has been Bin Laden’s
best recruiting tool. International Arab
television has ensured that the graphic suffering
of the Iraqis (and Palestinians) has been
beamed to 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide.
For every terrorist we kill or capture in
Iraq, we are generating dozens or hundreds
in Pakistan or Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Indonesia,
which makes this the most counterproductive
war in our history. So, we aren’t just removing
the suicidal terrorists, we are breeding them, by fueling their obsession with persecution
by sitting astride the Vatican of the Shia
faith.. and the heart of the Arab world.
They don’t hate us because of our freedom, but because of our actions.
The courage of Iraqis in defying the
nihilistic killers by voting is
heartening, but I fear that Sunni disenfranchisement
(only 2% of assembly) will lead to a civil
war- soon. As the Shiites take control, they
are likely to react in savage fashion to
the Sunni terrorism, especially when they
go after the Shiite Mullahs and mosques.§ 83 years of being treated like animals
will resurface. And no matter how much we
mouth the word freedom, how free can people be when they can’t walk
out the door, and most are nostalgic for
Saddam’s safety. It’s almost heartbreaking to hear our troops
simplistically celebrate the election, but
by their sacrifice, help install the Shiite Mullahs that have been the bane of our existence
in Iran. Muqtada Al Sadr didn’t stop the
violence because he saw the light, but because
democracy was soon going to hand him the
keys to the kingdom.
Now Bush wants to deal with the long smoldering
flames in Iran, a clear and present danger
risen to white hot with their real massive nuclear program- what we should have confronted rather than Iraq. But the squandering of
our wealth, resources, integrity, and good
will in Iraq; will make that difficult or
impossible.
* Ansar al-Islam was a fanatical group
on the Iran border loosely allied with Al
Qaida and formed after 9-11, but they were
warring against the Kurds, who had great
incentives to exaggerate connections and
support by Saddam and Osama; Eradicated in
beginning of war. Saddam also supported terrorism
in Israel by paying bounties to suicide bombers’
families
Michael Hammerschlag's commentary and articles (http://HAMMERNEWS.com) have appeared in Seattle Times, Providence. Journal, Columbia
Journalism Review, Honolulu Advertiser, Capital Times, MediaChannel; and Moscow News, Tribune, Times, and
Guardian. He's been a TV reporter, foreign correspondent,
and produced documentaries over 25 years.
He spent 2 years in Russia as the empire
collapsed, reported on Dean’s savaging by
the media, and had the first big scoop on
all the media mistakes on Election Night
2000 hammerschlag@bigfoot.com
--Baghdad: from riverbend Feb 18, 95
It’s not about a Sunni government or a Shia government- it’s about the possibility of an Iranian-modeled Iraq. Many Shia are also appalled with the results of the elections. There’s talk of Sunnis being marginalized by the elections but that isn’t the situation. It’s not just Sunnis- it’s moderate Shia and secular people in general who have been marginalized.
The list is frightening- Da’awa, SCIRI, Chalabi, Hussein Shahristani and a whole collection of pro-Iran political figures and clerics. They are going to have a primary role in writing the new constitution. There’s talk of Shari’a, or Islamic law, having a very primary role in the new constitution. The problem is, whose Shari’a? Shari’a for many Shia differs from that of Sunni Shari’a. And what about all the other religions? What about Christians and Mendiyeen?
Is anyone surprised that the same people who came along with the Americans – the same puppets who all had a go at the presidency last year – are the ones who came out on top in the elections? Jaffari, Talbani, Barazani, Hakim, Allawi, Chalabi… exiles, convicted criminals and war lords. Welcome to the new Iraq.
Ibraheim Al-Jaffari, the head of the pro-Iran Da’awa party gave an interview the other day. He tried very hard to pretend he was open-minded and that he wasn’t going to turn the once-secular Iraq into a fundamentalist Shia state but the fact of the matter remains that he is the head of the Da’awa party. The same party that was responsible for some of the most infamous explosions and assassinations in Iraq during the last few decades. This is the same party that calls for an Islamic Republic modeled like Iran. Most of its members have spent a substantial amount of time in Iran.
Jaffari cannot separate himself from the ideology of his party.
Then there’s Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). He got to be puppet president for the month of December and what was the first thing he did? He decided overburdened, indebted Iraq owed Iran 100 billion dollars. What was the second thing he did? He tried to have the “personal status” laws that protect individuals (and especially women) eradicated.
They try to give impressive interviews to western press but the situation is wholly different on the inside. Women feel it the most. There’s an almost constant pressure in Baghdad from these parties for women to cover up what little they have showing. There’s a pressure in many colleges for the segregation of males and females. There are the threats, and the printed and verbal warnings, and sometimes we hear of attacks or insults.
You feel it all around you. It begins slowly and almost insidiously. You stop wearing slacks or jeans or skirts that show any leg because you don’t want to be stopped in the street and lectured by someone who doesn’t approve. You stop wearing short sleeves and start preferring wider shirts with a collar that will cover up some of you neck. You stop letting your hair flow because you don’t want to attract attention to it