EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
The Gratitude in Baghdad
Some praise at morning what they blame at night,
But always think the last opinion right.
— Alexander Pope, The Temple of Fame
One bit news coming out of Iraq suggests that in at least one respect Iraq has modeled itself after its invaders. It comes as a welcome antidote to the bad news coming out of other places in that part of the world.
In Bahrain where the United States Fifth Fleet is docked when it’s not sailing around protecting the United States’ vital interests, the Bahrain royal family whom the U.S. been supporting for almost 50 years, took offense at the notion that its people might favor greater freedom, similar, perhaps, to the freedom enjoyed by its benefactors. It expressed its offense by killing and clubbing demonstrators who were peacefully expressing their hopes for those greater freedoms. As of this writing, the Bahrain royal family has said it’s sorry for having clubbed and killed those peacefully seeking greater freedoms and now wants to talk with its citizens. That makes those not clubbed and killed feel a bit better.
Another good friend that disappoints is Afghanistan, the country into which the United States continues to pour money and blood. Although the war there is not going as well as one might wish, in at least one respect, Afghanistan is doing exceptionally well. According to Transparency International’s annual list of corruption in 178 countries that was published in October 2010, Afghanistan is number 176. The downside is that unlike some scoring systems , the higher the number, the worse the result. Only two countries on the list are more corrupt than Afghanistan: Myanmar, formerly known as Burma (home to the almost perpetually house arrested Aung San Suu Ky) and Somalia, a country which as far as can be determined, has been without a government of any sort for years. With all that dismal news and the uprisings in other countries in that part of the world, news from Iraq offered a bit of relief.
Although random attacks in Baghdad and outlying areas continue at an alarming rate and a Day of Rage was planned for February 25 to protest a lack of government services in the city, in at least one respect Iraq is adapting to the United States way of doing things-assigning blame when bad things happen. In mid-February, Hakeem Abdul Zahra, a spokesman for the city of Baghdad, said the invasion of Iraq by United States forces inflicted considerable damage on Baghdad. This does not come as a surprise to anyone who has seen television footage of what went on in that country after it was invaded in 2002. What is surprising is that it took almost 10 years for any Baghdad official to point this out. Equally surprising it that the damage about which he complains is limited to the erection of blast walls and the use of humvees within the city limits of Baghdad. Damage inflicted by bombs was not mentioned. In demanding payment of damages of $1 billion and an apology, Zahra said: “The U.S. forces changed this beautiful city to a camp in an ugly and destructive way, which reflected deliberate ignorance and carelessness about the simplest forms of public taste. Due to the huge damage, leading to a loss the Baghdad municipality cannot afford. . . we demand the American side apologize to Baghdad’s people and pay back these expenses.” Elaborating on his concerns he said that sewer and water systems have been damaged by the heavy walls that were erected to protect against the force of blasts, humvees that were carrying troops did not always stay on roadways but sometimes drove on median strips and through gardens, ruining the vegetation. These violations Sahra said, caused “economic and moral damage.”
In the overall scheme of things, the amount being requested by Zahra is modest. Although different analysts assess the cost of the war in Iraq differently, it seems fairly clear that any way the amount is calculated, the war has been an expensive undertaking. In an analysis by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes in the Washington Post last September, the overall cost was estimated to be $3 trillion. The Cost of War analysis is somewhat more modest, placing the cost at just under $800 billion. Whichever figure you believe, what the city of Baghdad is requesting is a modest amount. Using the Cost of War analysis, the damages sought are only 1/800th of the total cost of the war and that does not seem like an unreasonable request for reimbursement.
The request proves that the Iraqis are good students. In the United States there is a belief that when bad things happen it is someone else’s fault and the offending party should be made to pay. That is true even if the offending party was trying to help the party aggrieved. The planned Day of Rage suggests that Iraq may not have learned from its invaders how to govern. Zahra’s demand suggests it has at least learned to assert its rights when it believes it has been wronged. Time will tell whether that is a good thing.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
15 Comments so far
Show AllIs this author for real?
Is his family being held hostage by Xe?
This is a bunch of condesending, ignorant, heartless tripe.
I leave it for others to tear apart each USA exceptionlist delusional cruel line of his bit by bit.
"Folks" (as both W and Obomber like to say to indicate they are just regular guys) this is parody. Brauchli is not a proponent or apologist for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. This is mockery, satire.
Maybe we are so inured to American officials and pundits saying such bone-jarringly outrageous things that we can no longer detect sardonic expose.
Think of Jonathan Swifts's "A Modest Proposal" whereby he suggests that the English should purchase Irish babies as a delicacy to help combat poverty in Ireland.
"A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragoust."
Some thought Swift was serious and they were outraged; others understood that Swift was mocking the English exploitation of the Irish and they, too, were outraged.
Brauchli might not have rocketed into the Swiftian firmament here but he is a good guy. Check out some of his other work before demanding his defenestration.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-brauchli/the-blackness-of-blackwat_b_387540.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/brauchli11242007.html
"... the Bahrain royal family whom the U.S. been supporting for almost 50 years, took offense at the notion that its people might favor greater freedom, similar, perhaps, to the freedom enjoyed by its benefactors."
If the goal of Bahrain's people really is a system of "freedom and democracy" that is in any way similar to that "enjoyed" by Americans (doubtful) a little more clubbing by their "benefactors" might actually be a good thing. It might knock some sense into their heads.
I won't tear it apart, glenn; rather, I will post a corrective written by the Angry Arab, whose blog is required reading if one wants to know what's happening :
"First, notice that US media, especially the New York Times and Washington Post, cover Iraq with barely a mention that the country is occupied and has been occupied since 2003. Secondly, notice that every article about repression and protests in Iraq has to mention that the country is a "democracy" as if to express amazement at the willingness of Iraqis to protest against it (this is today's NYT: "Unlike protests elsewhere in the region, the crowds in this young, war-torn democracy did not call for an entirely new form of government..."). Secondly, notice that the murder and repression by Iraqi puppet forces are always justified: (in the NYT today it said that people died from "clashes": "Iraq’s “day of rage” on Friday ended with nearly 20 protesters killed in clashes with security forces."). Thirdly, notice that any protests against the occupation and its puppet forces are instantly conflated with Al-Qa`idah terrorism (this is from today's NYT: "But on Friday, he celebrated the fact that there had been no suicide bombings. Their absence was perhaps a fluke, but it suggested that heavy security restrictions..." I mean, why should they link the protests to suicide bombings? Unless they are implying--like the sectarian puppet, Al-Maliki, that Bin Laden was behind the protests--just like Qadhdhafi has claimed in Libya). Fourthly, there is no opportunity missed to heap praise on puppet Iraqi repression forces. (Upon learning that some 20 protesters were killed, this is what a US commander has said: "Col. Barry A. Johnson, a spokesman for the United States military, said Iraq’s security forces appeared to respond well to the volatile, sometimes violent, crowds. “The Iraqi forces’ response appeared professional and restrained,” he said in an e-mail."). Fifthly, It is hard for US media to accept this, but Iraqis and Arabs in general in particular never treat Iraq as a democracy. It is never treated like a model to emulate. If anything, there is wide contempt for a republic jointly run by an obscurantist Ayatullah in cooperation with US and Iran. Nuri Al-Maliki is seen, rightly, like any other tyrant, no matter if he has sectarian support by virtue of the corrupt sectarian system that the US has set up there. In his speech the other day warning against protests, Al-Maliki sounded like Saddam warning ominously against "suspicious" forces. In fact, his rhetoric is a replica of that of Qadhdhafi. Sixthly, the absurd myth that Iraqi Kurdistan is a heaven and haven, is shattered by the daily protests and repression there is still being promoted and for that the coverage of protests there is scant. Seventhly, the nature of non-sectarian protests is ignored because Bush taught them that you can only speak of sects in Iraq."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-us-media-cover-occupied-iraq-some.html
I'm grateful we still have progressive journalists that haven't sold out, fed up with getting bashed by other progressives.
Correct me if I am totally wrong but I believe this author is stating the Iraqis need to be Grateful to the USA?
Is that what this Author is stating?
One Nation initiates a criminal "War Against the Peace" against a totally non threatening Nation.
Causes the deaths of up to 1 Million Iraqs.
Causes the Displacement internally and externally of 5 million Iraqis (25% of pop.)
Previously caused the deaths of 500,000 Iraqis , mostly toddlers, through Sanctions.
Participates in widespread torture and small scale and large scale war crimes daily: Fallujah being the worst.
Gleefully Tortures.
Irradiates Iraq with DU and destroys most of the infrastructure several times.
And someone is so delusional and calloused so as to propose that the Iraqis be grateful for this treatment.
And one poster considers this horrible reasoning, a reasoning that would put a Rat to shame, is progressive thought is beyond my comprehension.
Please someone help me out here, what am I missing? Is it a paucity of TV?
An overabundance of historical knowledge and empathy?
Please explain how one should be grateful for the near total destruction of ones nation and the causation of the slaughter of a large percentage of that Nations population?
Do people believe this is a sane, much less progressive way to alter a Nations governing structure?
Then the Citizens of this Imperial Empire should welcome the same treatment.
Please try reading the article again with the mindset that the author is displaying black sarcasm from the get go. I think you will find it works that way.
Do a Google Image Search: (click "images")
beautiful, historic, baghdad, images, photos, 1988;
or something to the like and see what you get.
Where are the pictures of the shops, mosques, parks and communities, that existed before 1991?
before and after pictures?
NOTHING!
Weird how people don't realize that MEDIA CONTROL is the elephant in the room. The nonsense that we are pointing to in the mainstream media may just generate a rant from us, but it is rewiring the brains of most Americans, who wholeheartedly believe what MEDIA CONTROL tells them.
Wake me up when it's time to storm MEDIA CONTROL.
Wow. I think this author needs some time off…a nice little sabbatical, in Baghdad.
I detected a note of irony in this essay- at first he seems like an apologist for the US war crimes...but, anyway.
I read that Iraq's few remaining intellectuals were targeted at the protest or killed. The extact same thing is happening in Libya,( and of this writing Hiliary and gang are calling for sactions and probably airstrikes next against Ghaddafi) so why not sanction the corrupt Iraqi (read American colonist) Green Zone regeime right now and drag Mr. Maliki and his Xe handlers to the ICC?
Iraqi has simply been bled dry--depopulated and dehumanized. Thanks karloff1 for the post--those words tell it all.
Yes I did a double take also and thought this guy could not be serious, but no he is extremely sick, the Pope quotation is his premise.
You call for Maliki to be tried but what of the King Pins Hillary et. al?
Hillary is gearing up to invade Libya and install another stooge.
If Iraq has been dehumanized how dehumanized do you think is the population of the Nation that instigated and orchaestrated the dehumanization?
I am disgusted with Authors who point at the monetary corruption of Nations and ignore the Slaughter of all forms of Life by their own Nation and tax dollars.
There is no comparison between embezzling and slaughtering a wedding party.
We see the Dehumanization in the USA when fools attack their own self interests by enabling the Oligarchy to destroy their fellow workers because of petty jealousy, which they imbibe of from State Propaganda.