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| Iraq |
| The Region: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends |
| 2008-11-24 |
| In explaining why he was too fearful to vote in Jerusalem's mayoral election, an east Jerusalem Palestinian shopkeeper, Issam Abu Rmaileh, said, "I would have liked to vote because it's in our interest, but who's going to protect me and my family afterwards?" Let's call it the Abu Rmaileh principle; it is extraordinarily important in the Middle East. Why should someone support you if you cannot protect them? ...IN WHICH way are President George Bush and his successor identical? Both believe that being liked in the Middle East will bring victory. Bush thought that by gifting the locals with a non-dictatorial Iraq and democracy they would come to love him. The opposite happened. Obama's strategy of being a nice guy and making concessions is likely to be less costly in direct terms for the United States but will also be used by the radicals for their own benefit. ...The frustrated American colonel in Iraq quoted above was bewildered by the fact that ""We poured a lot of our heart and soul into trying to help the people" only to hear them say the most inaccurate things about the United States stealing their oil, taking their land, and "turning our country over to Israel." A US pull-out may well be the right policy, but it will not bring gratitude. ...Alas, just because something isn't true doesn't mean people can't believe it. That's a truism applicable both to the Middle East and to Washington DC. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #2 Correct, rjschwarz. There are really two ways to react to the jaw-dropping ingratitude and nutty speculation of Arabs whose lives/kids/civlizations/dignity you've saved/restored/enhanced. Either you keep your eye on the ball, become a machine, view them as ignorant but well-meaning folks you'll have to help despite themselves, all the time remembering that it's in OUR interest to do so. Or, you basically give up on them. Most people I know oscillated back and forth between those modes, as did/do I. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2008-11-24 20:33 |
| #1 I don't think Bush felt the middle east would love him. I think he knew the governments would be hostile to the idea of a Democracy in their midst. But if that mean a liberalization (in the classic sense) of Arabic society the end goal was worthwhile. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-11-24 16:49 |