Most Iraqis Are Optimistic, Appreciate US
By Tom Barrett (03/16/04)
This Friday marks the first anniversary of the American-led Coalition’s commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The bronze monument to fallen Americans created by an Iraqi sculptor named Kalat is tangible proof of the appreciation the majority of Iraqis have for the Coalition forces who liberated them. The liberal news media lies to us through word and image on a daily basis about how the Iraqi’s view the US. But a Zogby survey of Iraqi citizens shows that Abid Ali, who owns an auto repair shop in Iraq speaks for most Iraqis when he says: "We will not forget it was the U.S. soldiers who liberated us from Saddam."
The monument above was created by Kalat using a photograph of Army1st Sgt. Glen Simpson as a model. The statues depict a scene observed all too often in the last year. An American soldier kneels to mourn a fallen comrade in front of a makeshift memorial made from the dead soldier’s boots, rifle and helmet. According to Command Sgt. Maj. Chuck Fuss, Kalat included a young girl reaching out to comfort the soldier in his time of grief to show the deep appreciation that ordinary Iraqis feel for the sacrifice Coalition forces have made in their behalf. The bronze memorial is currently on display outside the former Saddam palace that is now home to the 4th Infantry division in Iraq. It will eventually be flown to the 4th Infantry Division museum at Fort Hood, Texas.
Kalat, who was forced to create hundreds of bronze statues of the brutal dictator Saddam Hussein, jumped at the opportunity to melt down two statues of Saddam on horseback to create this touching memorial. He worked on the project night and day for several months because he wanted the world to know that he and his countrymen will be forever grateful to America, Great Britain, and the dozens of other countries that participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Karl Zinsmeister is the Editor-in-Chief of The American Enterprise magazine and the author of "Boots on the Ground: A Month With the 82nd Airborne in the Battle for Iraq." As one who has spent months interviewing Iraqi nationals, he confesses to confusion when he sees the way the media portrays the attitudes of most Iraqis. “Some of us who have spent time recently in Iraq…have been puzzled by the postwar news and media imagery, which is much more negative than what many individuals involved in reconstructing Iraq have been telling us.
In a recent article Zinsmeister draws upon his own experiences as well as the Zogby poll results to refute the false picture the media paints regarding the sentiments of the average Iraqi. “It's those ordinary Iraqis we need to remember as we work to establish an island of decency in the Middle East, not the extremists who are so good at catching the ears and cameras of Western reporters.” He says in the article, “What Iraqis Really Think”, “We asked them. What they told us is largely reassuring.”
In describing the misinformation the media feeds us, he described the situation in this way: “Up to now we've only been able to guess. We've relied on anecdotal temperature-takings of the Iraqi public, and have been at the mercy of images presented to us by the press. We all know that journalists have a bad-news bias: 10,000 schools being rehabbed isn't news; one school blowing up is a weeklong feeding frenzy…Well, finally we have some evidence of where the truth may lie. Working with Zogby International survey researchers, The American Enterprise magazine has conducted the first scientific poll of the Iraqi public.” The following quotations contain some of the results of that poll. I encourage you to read the article in its entirety at the Wall Street Journal online site (link below).
• Iraqis are optimistic. Seven out of 10 say they expect their country and their personal lives will be better five years from now. On both fronts, 32% say things will become much better.
• Asked to name one country they would most like Iraq to model its new government on from five possibilities - neighboring, Baathist Syria; neighbor and Islamic monarchy Saudi Arabia; neighbor and Islamist republic Iran; Arab lodestar Egypt; or the U.S. - the most popular model by far was the U.S. The U.S. was preferred as a model by 37% of Iraqis selecting from those five--more than Syria, Iran and Egypt put together. Saudi Arabia was in second place at 28%...Interestingly, Iraqi Shiites, coreligionists with Iranians, do not admire Iran's Islamist government; the U.S. is six times as popular with them as a model for governance.
• Our interviewers inquired whether Iraq should have an Islamic government, or instead let all people practice their own religion. Only 33% want an Islamic government; a solid 60% say no.
• Perhaps the strongest indication that an Islamic government won't be part of Iraq's future: The nation is thoroughly secularized. We asked how often our respondents had attended the Friday prayer over the previous month. Fully 43% said "never.”
• You can also cross out "Osama II": 57% of Iraqis with an opinion have an unfavorable view of Osama bin Laden, with 41% of those saying it is a very unfavorable view.
• And you can write off the possibility of a Baath revival. We asked "Should Baath Party leaders who committed crimes in the past be punished, or should past actions be put behind us?" A thoroughly unforgiving Iraqi public stated by 74% to 18% that Saddam's henchmen should be punished.
• Evidence of the comparative gentleness of this war can be seen in the poll. Less than 30% of our sample of Iraqis knew or heard of anyone killed in the spring fighting. Meanwhile, fully half knew some family member, neighbor or friend who had been killed by Iraqi security forces during the years Saddam held power.
• Perhaps the ultimate indication of how comfortable Iraqis are with America's aims in their region came when they were asked how long they would like to see American and British forces remain in their country: Six months? One year? Two years or more? Two thirds of those with an opinion urged that the coalition troops should stick around for at least another year.
The liberal media will continue to bombard us with images of every negative event they can find in Iraq, ignoring the wonderful work our soldiers and others are doing to rebuild the nation. Although every service member’s death is a tragedy, they will continue to hide the fact that almost as many die in training accidents worldwide as are dying in the sporadic conflicts in Iraq.
In short, the media has long since stopped reporting news, and has for years engaged in propagandizing that would have made Stalin proud. Nowhere is this more evident than in Iraq. America, you can hold your head high and be proud of the heroic work your military has done to free the Iraqi people. And you can be grateful that Al Gore or John Kerry was not at the helm when the decision was made. If one of them had been Commander-in-Chief, we would still be negotiating with a brutal mass-murderer.
INTERNET LINKS:
US Army News Service article about the memorial pictured above
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=5563
Accuracy of information about Kalat’s memorial verified
http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/kalat.asp
Wall Street Journal online OpinionJournal article, “What Iraqis Really Think”
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003991
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