Cheering Iraqis
03.21.2003
The New York Times, which took a strong anti-war stance, reports that Iraqi civilians are cheering troops passing through their towns. Cheeering? Not to mention that all media are reporting about a 70 percent defection rate of the Iraqi military. Is it possible this really is a war of liberation?
And I wondered why we heard so little about Detroit in the period leading up to the war. More than 160,000 Iraqis live in Detroit, the largest concentration in the US. Here's a PBS NewsHour story on that - their community overwhelmingly supports the war (they cheered Bush's speech announcing the start of the campaign) and many are joining a special expat force training in Hungary that'll return to Iraq as a "reconstruction" police force. Another report from New Jersey.
I also remember reading (can't find the sources now) that the 500,000 Iraqi community in Britain also supports the war. And were very noticeably absent from anti-war protests.
Makes me wonder why the anti-war movement spent so little time actually talking to Iraqis to see what they thought. Protest organizers in London even refused to let the Iraqis speak. Interesting.
Posted by Miguel at 12:37 PM
Comments
The reports from Germany on how exiled Iraqis feel are different, as far as i can gather (and my main source are here the interviews held with Iraqi families on DW-TV). The strange thing I see is that while all exiled Iraqis agree Saddam needs to go, the Iraqis are Sunni or Shiite in general do not support the war. They would have wanted a peaceful resolution. Some of them even argue, war will not bring democracy. However, I think most of their concern comes from having family members there. ...
Posted by: Melli at March 21, 2003 01:49 PM
... those who support the war, are mainly Kurdish Iraqis and they have their hopes on the U.S. (I guess also with regards from protection from a Turkish invation). So the situations appears to be a mixed bag in Germany.
Posted by: Melli at March 21, 2003 01:52 PM
OK, sure, many Iraqis are understandably worried about their loved ones. But how do you explain the cheering Iraqis our troops are encountering? I think they were all going to fight to the death for Hussein. Not eat Hershey chocolates and join American troops in chants of: "Iraqis, Iraqis, Iraqis!"
Odd.
Posted by: miguel at March 21, 2003 05:02 PM
I did not want to explain anything nor disagree with what you wrote... just add to what you wrote - a different kind of thing seemingly happening in Germany. These things do not get reported in U.S. media.
Posted by: Melli at March 21, 2003 08:13 PM