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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Fouad Ajami Gives Up On Iraqis |
| 2004-05-26 |
| From a New York Times opinion article written by Fouad Ajami, professor of Middle Eastern studies at Johns Hopkins University, author of Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation’s Odyssey. ... most of us recognized that a culture of terror had taken root in the Arab world. We struck, first at Afghanistan and then at the Iraqi regime, out of a broader determination to purge Arab radicalism. ... Let’s face it: Iraq is not going to be America’s showcase in the Arab-Muslim world. The president’s insistence that he had sent American troops to Iraq to make its people free, "not to make them American" is now — painfully — beside the point. ... We ... expected a fairly secular society in Iraq (I myself wrote in that vein at the time). Yet it turned out that the radical faith — among the Sunnis as well as the Shiites — rose to fill the void left by the collapse of the old despotism. In the decade that preceded the Iraq expedition, we had had our fill with the Arab anger in the streets of Ramallah and Cairo and Amman. We had wearied of the willful anti-Americanism. Now we find that anger, at even greater intensity, in the streets of Falluja. .... Once the administration talked of a "Greater Middle East" where the "deficits" of freedom, knowledge and women’s empowerment would be tackled, where our power would be used to erode the entrenched despotisms in the Arab-Muslim world. As of Monday night, we have grown more sober about the ways of the Arabs. It seems that we have returned to our accommodation with the established order of power in the Arab world. ... In their fashion, Iraqis had come to see their recent history as a passage from the rule of the tyrant to the rule of the foreigners. We had occupied the ruler’s palaces and the ruler’s prisons. It was logistics and necessity, of course — but that sort of shift in their world acquitted the Iraqi people, absolved them of the burden of their own history, left them on the sidelines as foreign soldiers and technicians and pollsters and advocates of "civic society" took control of their country. ... Iraq is treacherous territory, but Mr. Brahimi gives us a promise of precision. The Iraqis shall have a president, two vice presidents, a prime minister and 26 ministers who will run the country. We take our victories where we can. In Falluja, the purveyors of terrorism — nowadays they go by the honored name of mujahedeen — are applying the whip in public to vendors of wine and liquor and pornographic videos. ... Imperial expeditions in distant, difficult lands are never easy. And an Arab-Islamic world loaded with deadly means of destruction was destined to test our souls and our patience. ... In its modern history, Iraq has not been kind or gentle to its people. Perhaps it was folly to think that it was under any obligation to be kinder to strangers. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #6 Hmmm. Occupation? |
| Posted by: Dog Bites Trolls 2004-05-27 12:33:36 AM |
| #5 [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted] |
| Posted by: Dog Bites Trolls TROLL 2004-05-27 12:33:36 AM |
| #4 Arab anger Someone should trademark this phrase & collect royalties on its use. They'd be rich in a few weeks! |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-05-26 12:50:58 PM |
| #3 Sharia is being implemented in Falluja. They are moving quickly with bully tactics while their 'victory' over America is fresh on the sheeps minds. Sharia, they deserve that. How long until their mullahs can't get a taxi? Interesting to note that those that sell porno or booze are even around. But they will be and they'll be part of the black market mafia that is islamic society. Sharia is just a tool to keep the folk polite to the boss. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-05-26 12:20:08 PM |
| #2 The only way for Iraq to succeed as a form of democratic (and I use the term extremely liberally) enterprise is to for the USA to let Syria and Iran know in no uncertain terms - mess with Iraq and we will piss on you with daisy cutters! Will this happen? I doubt it. It hasn't happened yet and that is the main cause of all the insurgency - that is where the moral, financial and logistic support is coming from as well as the strange combo of Baathist-Shia interests. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2004-05-26 11:10:11 AM |
| #1 I usually like Ajami. I think here he is perhaps excessively pessimistic. Fallujah is not all of Iraq. He doesnt trust Brahimi, nor do I, but it seems that many pro-democractic politicians will be appointed to the transitional govt anyway. He is disappointed at the failure of secularism to emerge full throttle. So am I. But democracy is still taking root I think, and even Shistani sees it as the best guarantor of stability and Shia rights. If Ajami wrote this to put more pressure on the admin to support democracy in general, and Iraqi secularists in particular, I applaud it. I do not see the basis for giving up, not without a closer analysis of the (not yet announced) new government. And not without seeing the outcome of elections (which at least at the local level have tended to return secularists and independents more than Islamists) Iraq is, unfortunately not populated with millions of Fouad Ajamis. I still have faith in its people, and the possibility of a good outcome. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-05-26 10:25:40 AM |