A new dawn... if we can keep it...
11/15/2004 7:58 PM
A reader wrote:
Thanks for your updates and information on Fallujah. The question now, is can we keep the city? Can we install an Iraqi government there acceptable to and considered legitimate by the Iraqi people? And second, will local Iraqi forces be able to protect it from the terrorists who will surely come back?
Good questions. Yes, we can keep it and yes we can protect it. We’ve proven our ability to do that in Najaf, and other places. We killed a lot of terrorists in Fallujah. There are still more at large, but they are playing a zero-sum game. Time is against them, as is virtually every aspect of the battlefield both militarily and ideologically. The freedom bird has gotten out of its cage and landed on the shoulders of the Iraqis. They will not want to lose it.
There is still lots of fear on the Iraqi street. A couple of things will help to alleviate it. First will be the elections. Second will be the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein. There are still those who believe he has a chance to return and wreak more havoc. As long as he is alive that fear will be hard to get over.
Also, the Iraqi people will learn a lot about Saddam during the trial. They already know he was a murdering tyrant, but that really does not faze people in the Middle East. Every country here has lived under the same type of regime for virtually the length of History. Freedom is new and strange to them.
What will shock them are some of the simple truths. Saddam was a crook. People know it, but when they learn the extent of his wealth and compare it to the dirt-poor condition of the rest of Iraqis they will start to despise him beyond just everyday tyrant stuff. Also, they will learn how he sent his people to die in Iran, Kuwait, etc., and yet when it came time for him to fight he threw up his hands and gave up without firing a shot, crawling out of a stinking hole like the rat he is.
Will the Iraqis be able to handle security? Yes. It is going to be a volatile situation for a while over here and it’s too bad that the media and eurocentrists are pushing us to withdraw as quickly as possible. This is a part of the war on terrorists and we need to make sure what we do here has lasting effect.
If we do that, Fallujah will be marked as the turning point for the good.
Thanks for the questions!
Joe Kane
Baghdad
A reader wrote:
Thanks for your updates and information on Fallujah. The question now, is can we keep the city? Can we install an Iraqi government there acceptable to and considered legitimate by the Iraqi people? And second, will local Iraqi forces be able to protect it from the terrorists who will surely come back?
Good questions. Yes, we can keep it and yes we can protect it. We’ve proven our ability to do that in Najaf, and other places. We killed a lot of terrorists in Fallujah. There are still more at large, but they are playing a zero-sum game. Time is against them, as is virtually every aspect of the battlefield both militarily and ideologically. The freedom bird has gotten out of its cage and landed on the shoulders of the Iraqis. They will not want to lose it.
There is still lots of fear on the Iraqi street. A couple of things will help to alleviate it. First will be the elections. Second will be the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein. There are still those who believe he has a chance to return and wreak more havoc. As long as he is alive that fear will be hard to get over.
Also, the Iraqi people will learn a lot about Saddam during the trial. They already know he was a murdering tyrant, but that really does not faze people in the Middle East. Every country here has lived under the same type of regime for virtually the length of History. Freedom is new and strange to them.
What will shock them are some of the simple truths. Saddam was a crook. People know it, but when they learn the extent of his wealth and compare it to the dirt-poor condition of the rest of Iraqis they will start to despise him beyond just everyday tyrant stuff. Also, they will learn how he sent his people to die in Iran, Kuwait, etc., and yet when it came time for him to fight he threw up his hands and gave up without firing a shot, crawling out of a stinking hole like the rat he is.
Will the Iraqis be able to handle security? Yes. It is going to be a volatile situation for a while over here and it’s too bad that the media and eurocentrists are pushing us to withdraw as quickly as possible. This is a part of the war on terrorists and we need to make sure what we do here has lasting effect.
If we do that, Fallujah will be marked as the turning point for the good.
Thanks for the questions!
Joe Kane
Baghdad
posted by Joe at Monday, November 15, 2004
1 Comments:
Thanks, Joe! It's good to get the view from someone who is near to the action. Keep up the good work.
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