In case you haven’t heard, over the past couple of days, media ran a constant stream of reports on a battle in Najaf between Iraqi police and a large massed force of insurgents. Early reports claimed Iraqi police discovered, surrounded, and engaged 600 Sunni Insurgents who were gathering in an attempt to violently disrupt Ashura festivities and attempt an assassination against Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani. This story fits nicely in medias long running argument that a sectarian rift between Shiite and Sunnis is tearing Iraq apart in an all out a civil war. I've mentioned before that the situation is so much more complicated than a simple black and white sectarian divide and trust me there is nothing "Civil" about any of this.
I cannot, nor do I, claim to be an expert on Islamic society, but I do know media, I do know the US military and I am getting smart real fast on Baghdad and Iraq. Moreover, fortunately (or unfortunately) I get a front row seat to sort through all the fog and access to tools most can only wish for.
From where I'm sitting I have to say that unfortunately for all of us, we Americans like simple two sided themes… good vs. evil, black vs. white, Republican vs. Democrat, spy vs. spy. Hell I'm guilty of this myself and even I wish it could be that easy but the simple fact is our bipolar bipartisan view of the world may in fact be our Achilles heel. Our difficulty reading and accepting the many shades of grey only serves to conceal the reality that in a state lacking the full ability to self enforce rules of law, lawlessness tends to happen. Local Iraqis I befriend validate this, informing me that most violence stems from long time vendettas, criminal activities, or folks just meddling where they don’t belong. They say that until the media began heavily advertising the idea, they didn’t really think about religious orientation nearly as much as they thought about their social, political, cultural and economic status. Any of those issues sound familiar to you? But now the genie is out of the jug and thanks to constant promotion, religion has become top of mind…
Last night (Baghdad time), media finally reported that the ensuing force was in fact not a band of ruthless Sunni warriors but actually a fringe Shiia cult that was seeking to further its own agenda by disrupting the celebrations and committing the assassination. (Shiite vs. Shiite!?!)
Further and what is more disappointing… while US forces were called in to support the effort, sadly losing an Apache Gun Ship and its crew in the process, what was not really highlighted is how the Iraqi police, although having a tough time of it, managed to slog this large scale battle out without running away to leave it all in the hands of the US military as they’ve done in most every engagement before. Small victories no?
So I ask … whose tail is wagging what dog?
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
The first casualty of war is truth… (or how quickly moths fly into the flame)
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2 comments:
TexNap!
Keep watching your six, and perhaps I can send you some sci-fi...
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mrflash818
we Americans like simple two sided themes… good vs. evil, black vs. white, Republican vs. Democrat, spy vs. spy.
Don't forget, "You're either with us or with the terrorists."
Local Iraqis I befriend validate this, informing me that most violence stems from long time vendettas, criminal activities, or folks just meddling where they don't belong.
Americans in general don't seem to have the ability to wrap their minds around the fact that the Middle East has a long and bloody history of tribal warfare, and in the absence of an understanding of what that truly means, they simplify what's happening there into "sectarian" violence - as though insurgents are fighting one another over points of doctrine like Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation.
I don't believe that for a second. What I see are groups of men who fight in order to gain political power, control over land and resources and maybe while they're at it, take revenge upon those who have wronged them or someone from their clan or tribe.
And isn't it interesting that I tend to see exactly the same thing in the people who found it necessary to send our own warriors over there? The only differences I can see are that we consider ourselves more "civilized" for not admitting our own tribal nature, and "better" because we have the "true" invisible fairy on our side.
Thousands of years and wars bear out that nothing can get regular folks to send their loved ones into battle like saying it's blessed/commanded by the Divine. Handy little tool of control it is, too, since one is expected never to question God's will. The media's (and government's) equation of piety with patriotism is no accident; for if they keep people's eyes on God, they'll be distracted from the misdeeds of men who claim to be doing His work.
Someone on abcnews.com posted this link to an unpublished article by Mark Twain that I've never seen before: The War Prayer
These old guys, their blood feuds and dick wars, and dependence upon superstitious nonsense to resolve modern-day problems can only be educated out of existence. Call me an optimist, but I really believe that technology is making it easier for people to learn things for themselves and THINK for themselves and GOVERN themselves. I'm inspired by some of the young people around the world I've "run into" online and confident in the Iraqis' and other countries' desire and ability to progress on their own.
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