Arab World Stunned by Baghdad's Fall

From: matus (matus@snet.net)
Date: Thu Apr 10 2003 - 12:15:10 MDT

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    Arab World Stunned by Baghdad's Fall
    Full article -
    http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20030410/ap_on_re_mi_ea/wt
    ar_arabs&e=2

    "Across the Middle East, people struggled to reconcile images of celebrating
    Iraqis with widely held suspicions about the United States' motives."

    Indeed, I am sure some members of this list are stuggling to put a negative
    spin on this event as well. How to reconclie the jubilation the Iraqi
    people exhibited at being liberated by the US, when the US is just an evil
    aggressor!? I didnt see any Iraqi people protesting their own liberation!!!
    Odd how there were probably more people protesting their liberation then
    there were Iraqi people under oppresion.

    "Now no one believes Al-Jazeera anymore," said Ali Hassan, a government
    employee in Cairo, Egypt referring to the Arabic-language television news
    channel. "

    Interesting to see that the largest Arab News source has lost significant
    credibility, where will Arabs now turn for their non-western news? What
    impact might this have on Arab perceptions of the world in general?

    "The entire front page of the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat was devoted
    to a photograph of the pulling down Saddam's statue in Baghdad. Above it,
    the headline: "And Saddam's regime fell — Shock in Arab capitals, joy in
    Baghdad..."

    This is pretty significant stuff. How Will Arabs reconcile these images?

    "Many Arabs — even those who saw Saddam as an oppressive dictator — had
    viewed the war as the struggle of an Arab underdog against foreign invaders
    interested in Iraqi oil. Most Egyptians, for instance, do not believe that
    Saddam had terrorist connections or weapons of mass destruction"

    Egypt is the single biggest recipient of Foriegn aide from the US, some 12
    billion per year, yet it is also a totalitarian. It was one of the first
    Arab nations to speak out against and condemn the US / British Coalition to
    dispose Saddam one the effort commenced. One must wonder what is going
    through the heads of Arab nation's tyrannical leaders 'Oh no, now MY people
    will want democracy and freedom!!!' and then 'How can I make sure my people
    hate America more than me?, keep them oppresed and make sure to blame
    America!'

    "So the quick fall of Baghdad and Iraqi jubilation came as a shock."

    A statement that speaks for itself.

    "In the West Bank city of Nablus, Yousef Mizher, 32, said that at the
    beginning of the war, he distributed 300 photos of Saddam along with the
    Palestinian newspapers he delivers daily because "I loved this guy." "But
    when I saw the defeat yesterday on TV, I realized how silly I had been.
    Saddam is just like any Arab leader. He wants to stay in power at the
    expense of the blood and bones of his people," Mizher said. Saddam, he
    added, should have gone into exile instead of sacrificing his people in a
    war with the Americans." "

    Note Here is a previous supporter of Saddam changing his mind, and
    acknowledging that Saddam is in fact morally culpable for the deaths of the
    people he oppresses. A change of mind that some members of this list are
    incapable of, and a recogition of moral culpability that also has been
    ignored by opponents of this effort.

    "I don't like the idea of having the Americans here, but we asked for it,"
    said Tannous Basil, a cardiologist in Sidon, Lebanon. "Why don't we see the
    Americans going to Finland, for example? They come here because our area is
    filled with dictatorships like Saddam's."

    And, Finally,

    "Some, however, said they hoped the fall of Saddam could signal a new move
    toward democracy in the Middle East"

    Note these were Arabs that were saying this. The meme for democracy
    spreading in the Middle East amongst Arab peoples could have significant
    progressive results in the middle east.

    Michael Dickey



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