A Tale Of Two Iraqs
By Brian Yates (10/01/03)
Now that Saddam is gone, the world seems to be stuck with two Iraqs. Two countries occupying the same territory, but yet there are so many vast differences between them. From the New York Times, we hear from Hayder Awad Aabadi, who, when asked about the situation in his home country says, “They [Iraqis] will not be motivated in a situation where things are run by a foreign occupying power.”
The Times claims that “impatience is beginning to grow here as Iraqi officials chafe at the strictures of an American occupation.” France and the rest of the gang in “Old Europe” are demanding that the United States cede control of Iraq to the Iraqis immediately. Let the U.N. handle it. The example cited by Old Europe is Afghanistan, where Hamid Karzai quickly took control of the country after the war and the United Nations retained an important role. Apparently the folks in France have had a little too much of their own wine (or is it whine?) because Afghanistan is still pretty rough. (But hey, the U.N. is in charge; things couldn’t be better, right?)
But what do the Iraqis really think? The problem for all these people who have been secretly (some not so secretly) rooting against the U.S. from the very beginning is that the Iraqi people actually are quite grateful to the United States. They’re happy to be rid of Saddam. (That noise you hear is the sound of jaws dropping to the concrete outside the Humanities building at U of L.) Yes, you did hear correctly, they are extremely happy and grateful to be rid of the evil tyrant, Saddam Hussein.
A Zogby Poll conducted in August found that 70% of Iraqis believe their country and their lives will be better five years from now. The toughest part of reconstructing their nation, according to the very people who actually live in that nation, will be politics rather than economics by a 3 to 1 margin. Four in ten Iraqis believe democracy will work while five in ten believe it won’t. The younger the Iraqi, the more likely they were to support democracy and women were more in favor than men.
When asked to name one country they would most like Iraq to model its country on, it wasn’t Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Syria…and it sure as hell wasn’t France. The United States was the preferring option by 37% of the people. The next closest was Saudi Arabia at 28%. Only 33% would prefer an Islamic government while a strong 60% oppose it.
Osama bin Laden is no favorite of Iraqis with 57% having an unfavorable view of him and 41% of those saying their view is “very unfavorable.” In fact, the limited support of bin Laden heavily concentrated in the Sunni triangle, according to the Wall Street Journal. Iraqis also felt that Baath Party members guilty of crimes should be punished by a 74% to 18% margin.
However, the one number that may make you leftists look up from your peace pipes is this one: two-thirds of Iraqis felt that the coalition troops should stick around for at least another year. And by the way, while less than 30% of those polled knew of anyone killed during the war; more than half knew someone (family member, neighbor, friend or otherwise) who had been killed by Iraqi security during the Saddam regime.
Maybe, rather than continue to cry that this war was a “fraud” you might consider the good that has come of it and the people who have been helped tremendously. When Iraqis are ready to assume control of the country; they’ll get it. Until that time; however, it would be extremely unwise to hand it over.
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