The new Iraq
John Burns in the NY Times:
"...Baghdad is not Iraq, and it is certainly not Falluja, Ramadi or Tikrit, where crowds have gathered to cheer the killings of American troops, most recently in the shooting down of two helicopters.
"But the random experiences of a week back in the country and among ordinary people I have talked to, by far the most common view has been that for all the American failures, as they see them, a guarantee of greater misery would still be the premature withdrawal of American troops.
"...One thing that draws common assent among Americans and Iraqis is Saddam Hussein. While the bombers seem to want him back in his palaces, virtually everybody else wants to see him dead — captured first, tried by an Iraqi court, then executed for his crimes.
"...For the most part, it is the present, not the past, that engages Iraqis' passions. The Iraqis can be incandescent about the perceived failings of the occupation administration led by L. Paul Bremer III, so far short of the American efficiencies that were an Iraqi gospel before. They mock most of the hand-picked Iraqi leaders who form the transitional governing council, saying they spend most of their time abroad on expense-paid trips or maneuvering against one another in the time they are at home.
"...Gesturing toward the smoking hulk of the headquarters where at least 19 Italians and 13 Iraqis died, I asked the crowds if they thought America and its allies should pack up and go home. In the clamor that followed, I asked for quiet so that each man and boy could speak his mind. Unscientific as the poll was, the sentences that flowed expressed a common belief.
"'No, no!' one man said. 'If the Americans go, it will be chaos everywhere.' Another shouted, 'There would be a civil war.'
"'If the Americans, the British or the Italians leave Iraq, we will be handed back to the flunkies of Saddam, the Baathists and Al Qaeda will take over our cities,' another man said.
"Nobody offered a dissenting view, though many said it would be best if the Americans achieved peace and left as soon as possible. These people, at least, seemed concerned that America should know that the bombers, whoever they were, did not speak for the ordinary citizens of Iraq."
John Burns in the NY Times:
"...Baghdad is not Iraq, and it is certainly not Falluja, Ramadi or Tikrit, where crowds have gathered to cheer the killings of American troops, most recently in the shooting down of two helicopters.
"But the random experiences of a week back in the country and among ordinary people I have talked to, by far the most common view has been that for all the American failures, as they see them, a guarantee of greater misery would still be the premature withdrawal of American troops.
"...One thing that draws common assent among Americans and Iraqis is Saddam Hussein. While the bombers seem to want him back in his palaces, virtually everybody else wants to see him dead — captured first, tried by an Iraqi court, then executed for his crimes.
"...For the most part, it is the present, not the past, that engages Iraqis' passions. The Iraqis can be incandescent about the perceived failings of the occupation administration led by L. Paul Bremer III, so far short of the American efficiencies that were an Iraqi gospel before. They mock most of the hand-picked Iraqi leaders who form the transitional governing council, saying they spend most of their time abroad on expense-paid trips or maneuvering against one another in the time they are at home.
"...Gesturing toward the smoking hulk of the headquarters where at least 19 Italians and 13 Iraqis died, I asked the crowds if they thought America and its allies should pack up and go home. In the clamor that followed, I asked for quiet so that each man and boy could speak his mind. Unscientific as the poll was, the sentences that flowed expressed a common belief.
"'No, no!' one man said. 'If the Americans go, it will be chaos everywhere.' Another shouted, 'There would be a civil war.'
"'If the Americans, the British or the Italians leave Iraq, we will be handed back to the flunkies of Saddam, the Baathists and Al Qaeda will take over our cities,' another man said.
"Nobody offered a dissenting view, though many said it would be best if the Americans achieved peace and left as soon as possible. These people, at least, seemed concerned that America should know that the bombers, whoever they were, did not speak for the ordinary citizens of Iraq."
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