This post from Omar at Iraq The Model is from July 8, before Hezbollah attacked Israel from Lebanon. Omar and Mohammed were reading a forum on BBC's Arabic-language website, and they noticed a striking difference in the reactions to the Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel's retaliation in Gaza.
About three dozens of comments were made by Iraqis both inside Iraq and in exile and all these comments were supportive of Israel or at least against Hamas as far as the topic is concerned except for only three comments; that's a 10:1 ratio while as you probably have guesses, the opposite ratio is true about the comments by the rest of Arabs.
Omar speculates about those differences:
Perhaps our problem is that we in Iraq are evolving politically faster than we are doing when it comes to economy, security, etc. that we are even ahead of countries like Egypt or Kuwait in holding real elections and having a permanent constitution and fair representation of all the segments of the people.
He notes the challenges Iraq still faces with their infrastructure, then offers this:
But what really makes me feel optimistic about this new Iraqi way of thinking is that it shows how Iraqis are beginning to distinguish between terrorism and rightful acts of resistance not only in Iraq but also on a global level and are showing decreasing tolerance for extremism and this in my opinion is what builds peace in the region or any given region of this world. (emphasis added)
If Omar and Mohammed are optimistic, then I am too. Here are a few of the comments they posted. I encourage you to read them all.
"Our hearts go out to the family of the Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by some Palestinian group. We share your suffering and we fully support anything you do to free your missing soldier"
Hassan al-Shami: Baghdad/Iraq.
"I wonder how much time and blood it will take until Arabs and Muslims realize that the world is not the property of their ancestors and that God is not a trademark of their minds and that terror is a dead-end that leads only to more destruction.
Israel is a civilized country defending herself from barbaric savages whose minds are made of stone…minds that do not want to believe they are living in the 21st century.
What's happening to the Palestinians despite its cruelty is going to be a good lesson for them to learn they must clear their community off the hateful fundamentalist terror mentality…[Quranic verse] "God will not change people until they change what's within themselves"…but, will you change?!!"
Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi.
And from some non-Iraqis:
"…I don't know what's wrong with some of the posters from Iraq whom I question their Arabism. That Americanized Iraqi says Israel is a civilized country!! And says Israel is defending herself from barbarians!!
Abu Ayoub: As a Muslim woman I ask you; who desecrated your honor in Abu Ghraib and who raped that 15 year old girl?Your speech will not find ears among anyone with dignity"
Um Ammar: San'aa/Yemen.
But we will not kneel down and we shall not despair….we may disagree with Hamas but we will not accept to see America and Israel bring Hamas down and we're proud of our position"
Laith: Ramallah.
The Israelis will see the consequences of what they did and still are doing when the scales of power change and Arabs and Muslims unite to defend their honor and dignity. Our rights will not be lost as long as we persist to demand them; that's what history taught us and that's what the struggle against colonial Britain and France taught us"
Abdah: Cairo.
When Arabs--Muslims--understand Israel's right not only to exist but to defend herself, we're seeing progress. And Iraqis are beginning to understand.
They've been the victims of Islamist extremists in Iraq for two to three years now, so they know what it's like. The average Iraqi citizen has more in common these days with the average Israeli than they do with the average Palestinian.
I wish the world's leaders knew how (and were willing) to bring the Iraqi mindset to the rest of the Middle East.
4 comments:
Great post. We have come a bit from the days when Saddam would lob missles into Israel to goad them into war which he thought would then raise anger from other Arabs.
I think it is a very good thing that we are in Iraq and Afganistan as we sandwich Iran between the two. Also Syria is sandwiched between Iraq and Israel. The two biggest troublemakers are geographically in check. Anything could happen, but this setup holds the most promise of keeping the powder keg from exploding.
AICS,
I hadn't looked at the geographical aspect (funny, because I love maps). You're right about Syria and Iran in a Big Squeeze.
Even so, Iran seems like they're aching for their powderkeg to blow...
I understand the Iranian religious-extremist-Shiite-messianic-fruitcake-fanatic business, but what is it with Syria? ...an envious-thumb-nosing-search-for-identity-and-attention-melt-down-death-wish? How does this profit them? Does it get them money from Iran? Does it consolidate the governments power with its people?
I love the sandwich analogy. I've always said that we need to be engaged in the Middle East and as things stand now, a Murtha cut-and-run-pull-out would leave us with much less influence and leverage.
Hyphens are good.
Chris,
Yes, Murtha's approach would leave us "nearby" in Okinawa.
Yes, hyphens are good. You can use quotes for an "I really have to say this" kind of thing, but they're only a stepchild to hyphens.
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