Iraq War: Deaths in Iraq (2 of 2)

Hopefully, the US in Iraq won't be looking at what the Israelis have dealt with in the West Bank and Gaza since the 1967 war. Continued guerrilla attacks, sometimes receding and sometimes increasing, going on and on for nearly 37 years now, with no peace in sight.

Unfortunately, some Americans are already adopting a classical colonialist attitude of resenting the uncivilized Iraqis who should be appreciating all the superior Americans are doing for them more than they are: The Bumpy Road to Democracy in Iraq by Fred Barnes Weekly Standard 04/05/04.

But don't assume a growing economy [!?] and declining terrorism [!??!] spell success. There's a serious obstacle remaining--the attitude of many Iraqis. Kurds, educated exiles who've returned from London and Detroit, and a good number of other Iraqis have embraced what Paul Bremer calls the "new Iraq." But many Iraqis haven't. They don't want Saddam back, but they look unfavorably on the American occupation. Like the French, they may never forgive America for having liberated them.

... Having been cowed by Saddam, many Iraqis seem to be making up for it by distrusting their American occupiers and hectoring them whenever the occasion arises.

One of the complaints Barnes has about the ungrateful natives is that they complain about mistreatment of civilians by American soldiers.  But Barnes knows better. How does he know? Why, he walked around and chatted with some soldiers! (Just a guess, but he probably doesn't speak Arabic to talk directly to most Iraqis.)

... U.S. troops have been trained to be nice to Iraqis, strange as that seems. I saw soldiers deal respectfully with Iraqis all over the country. In meeting soldiers in World War II, Dwight Eisenhower had a great icebreaker. He would ask, "Where you from, soldier?" It put GIs at ease. I tried it in Iraq, and it led to friendly chats every time. The officers are fine, but it's the enlisted ranks these days that are most impressive. They're polite warriors.

This kind of thing is only a small step away from justifying indiscriminate attacks on civilians, because these people should be more grateful for our "liberating" them.