Too Late
I've finished the book by Paul William Roberts, A War Against Truth. If there is anything that seems clear from Roberts book four years into the Iraq war, it's that some of the truth he speaks of is just now coming to light among the American people themselves as returning soldiers speak of how ill-prepared they were, how they were unsure of what they were fighting for, how or why. Revved up to think they would be greeted as "liberators", and that they would be in and out of Iraq in a matter of weeks, never mind months and now years, then dismayed to find they were met with derision, hate and open defiance, the ordinary soldier has been painfully caught in the middle of a political course of action that has had disastrous consequences.
Roberts points out how there was very little understanding of the people at the beginning. Yes, there were many people who would have hailed the Americans as liberators at the beginning - yes, indeed, Saddam's regime was brutal and can't be defended- but the American soldiers had no training and no understanding of how to work with the potentially sympathetic individuals and groups. He gives examples from his own aquaintance of people who were alienated by having guns poked in their faces and cursed at by baby-faced soldiers. In one of his examples he tells of an Iraqi who helped the Amerticans by sharing information and leading them to a mass grave and to some of the key players in Saddam's regime. Much damage was done because the man was never thanked properly or recognized in any way. If the soldiers involved had understood something of Iraq culture they might have capitalized on making that man and others like him allies, instead of turning them into enemies, and the whole situation into a real liberation and not an occupation.
Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned from this for the Canadians in Afghanistan: as Roberts says, perhaps the biggest problem in the world is "trying to shove ideologies down each others throats." I understand that the Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are working with the people and I think that is a good thing.
Roberts points out how there was very little understanding of the people at the beginning. Yes, there were many people who would have hailed the Americans as liberators at the beginning - yes, indeed, Saddam's regime was brutal and can't be defended- but the American soldiers had no training and no understanding of how to work with the potentially sympathetic individuals and groups. He gives examples from his own aquaintance of people who were alienated by having guns poked in their faces and cursed at by baby-faced soldiers. In one of his examples he tells of an Iraqi who helped the Amerticans by sharing information and leading them to a mass grave and to some of the key players in Saddam's regime. Much damage was done because the man was never thanked properly or recognized in any way. If the soldiers involved had understood something of Iraq culture they might have capitalized on making that man and others like him allies, instead of turning them into enemies, and the whole situation into a real liberation and not an occupation.
Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned from this for the Canadians in Afghanistan: as Roberts says, perhaps the biggest problem in the world is "trying to shove ideologies down each others throats." I understand that the Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are working with the people and I think that is a good thing.
posted by mamie @ 1:22 PM
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