The U.S. in Iraq
NEW YORK Of the myriad reasons that President George W. Bush gave for invading Iraq, the one that Arabs believed the least was that U.S. troops would install democracy in the Middle East. But last week, as I followed the news coming out of Iraq, I couldn't help wonder if Bush really did do it all for democracy. Do Arabs owe Bush thanks rather than skepticism?.
Let's start with freedom of expression - a cornerstone of democracy. On March 28, in a move perfected by Arab despots - the very same ones whom Bush wants to teach about democracy - L. Paul Bremer 3rd, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, shut down a newspaper run by the radical Shiite Muslim cleric, Moktada al-Sadr. His militias rose up in protest, shattering the long-held belief that Iraq's Shiites would not turn against the Americans..
Bremer's move puzzled the Arabs. Where's the democracy in shutting down a newspaper? But here's the rub - it taught the Iraqis the importance of fighting for their freedom of expression. It is a lesson that is not lost on my fellow Arabs, I'm sure. So thanks are due there to the administration..
Minority rights and sectarian strife are stubborn problems in the Arab world. Nowhere were these fissures more fragile than in Iraq. Since Bush declared major combat over last May, car and suicide bombs killed hundreds of Shiites and Kurds. Many worried that Sunni militants were bent on igniting a civil war..
But on April 11, tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims headed home from the holy city of Karbala after a religious festival ended without incident. Just last month, three suicide bombers struck major Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and Baghdad on the final day of the major religious festival of Ashoura, killing at least 125 and injuring hundreds. What changed? Falluja..
Falluja is the latest entry in the blood-soaked lexicon of relations between Muslim Sunnis and Shiites. But unlike Karbala, where Sunnis killed Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein in a 7th century battle, Falluja will be remembered for bringing the two sects of Islam together in Iraq..
And once again, thanks are due to the United States. More precisely, thanks to the U.S. military's punishing siege and bombardment of Falluja. U.S. marines attacked the town, a bastion of Sunni insurgency, in response to the murder and mutilation of four American private security contractors ambushed there. As word spread of the death and hunger in Falluja, Shiites began donating blood, food and militia fighters..
Surely this lesson in sectarian unity has not been lost on my fellow Arabs. Neither will the casualty figures. More than 600 Iraqis, mostly civilians, have died in Falluja since April 9..
Many in the Arab world wondered why Iraqis did not put up more of a fight last year when their country was invaded. But why should Saddam Hussein's terrorized conscripts have fought for him? It is a different story now. Iraqis are fighting for themselves, not for a bloodthirsty dictator. And Iraqis are no longer killing each other as they were earlier this year. Again, thanks are due to Bush..
Now thanks to the mistakes, blunders and heavy-handed tactics of the U.S. military, Iraqis know they can put up a fight. My fellow Arabs, living under dictators of their own, must be wondering about their ability to put up a fight too. How ironic that it has taken the sight of Iraqis fighting the Americans to make them wonder..
The mess in Iraq has alienated even those Arabs who believed Bush's democracy scenario. Ali, a Saudi who once criticized my condemnation of the U.S. invasion, sent me an e-mail last week. "I was such a fool for thinking that the Americans are coming to free us," he wrote. And so I truly thank Bush for losing Arabs and Muslims like Ali and for helping them to agree with me..
Mona Eltahawy is a columnist for Asharq al-Awsat, an Arab-language daily based in London.
NEW YORK Of the myriad reasons that President George W. Bush gave for invading Iraq, the one that Arabs believed the least was that U.S. troops would install democracy in the Middle East. But last week, as I followed the news coming out of Iraq, I couldn't help wonder if Bush really did do it all for democracy. Do Arabs owe Bush thanks rather than skepticism?.
Let's start with freedom of expression - a cornerstone of democracy. On March 28, in a move perfected by Arab despots - the very same ones whom Bush wants to teach about democracy - L. Paul Bremer 3rd, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, shut down a newspaper run by the radical Shiite Muslim cleric, Moktada al-Sadr. His militias rose up in protest, shattering the long-held belief that Iraq's Shiites would not turn against the Americans..
Bremer's move puzzled the Arabs. Where's the democracy in shutting down a newspaper? But here's the rub - it taught the Iraqis the importance of fighting for their freedom of expression. It is a lesson that is not lost on my fellow Arabs, I'm sure. So thanks are due there to the administration..
Minority rights and sectarian strife are stubborn problems in the Arab world. Nowhere were these fissures more fragile than in Iraq. Since Bush declared major combat over last May, car and suicide bombs killed hundreds of Shiites and Kurds. Many worried that Sunni militants were bent on igniting a civil war..
But on April 11, tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims headed home from the holy city of Karbala after a religious festival ended without incident. Just last month, three suicide bombers struck major Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and Baghdad on the final day of the major religious festival of Ashoura, killing at least 125 and injuring hundreds. What changed? Falluja..
Falluja is the latest entry in the blood-soaked lexicon of relations between Muslim Sunnis and Shiites. But unlike Karbala, where Sunnis killed Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein in a 7th century battle, Falluja will be remembered for bringing the two sects of Islam together in Iraq..
And once again, thanks are due to the United States. More precisely, thanks to the U.S. military's punishing siege and bombardment of Falluja. U.S. marines attacked the town, a bastion of Sunni insurgency, in response to the murder and mutilation of four American private security contractors ambushed there. As word spread of the death and hunger in Falluja, Shiites began donating blood, food and militia fighters..
Surely this lesson in sectarian unity has not been lost on my fellow Arabs. Neither will the casualty figures. More than 600 Iraqis, mostly civilians, have died in Falluja since April 9..
Many in the Arab world wondered why Iraqis did not put up more of a fight last year when their country was invaded. But why should Saddam Hussein's terrorized conscripts have fought for him? It is a different story now. Iraqis are fighting for themselves, not for a bloodthirsty dictator. And Iraqis are no longer killing each other as they were earlier this year. Again, thanks are due to Bush..
Now thanks to the mistakes, blunders and heavy-handed tactics of the U.S. military, Iraqis know they can put up a fight. My fellow Arabs, living under dictators of their own, must be wondering about their ability to put up a fight too. How ironic that it has taken the sight of Iraqis fighting the Americans to make them wonder..
The mess in Iraq has alienated even those Arabs who believed Bush's democracy scenario. Ali, a Saudi who once criticized my condemnation of the U.S. invasion, sent me an e-mail last week. "I was such a fool for thinking that the Americans are coming to free us," he wrote. And so I truly thank Bush for losing Arabs and Muslims like Ali and for helping them to agree with me..
Mona Eltahawy is a columnist for Asharq al-Awsat, an Arab-language daily based in London.
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