by Pieter J. Friedrich
12/13/03
On December 10th a large rally took place in Baghdad. Iraqis (including a Communist faction) gathered to protest terrorism and stand "against oppression." I have little doubt that naive Republicans will attempt to use this rally as a sign that America has won the "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people.
Next time someone tries to wrangle you into believing that we have won (or are winning) the "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people, refresh their memory with a few of the things that have happened in Iraq in the last month:
America may be winning "hearts and minds," but Iraqi guerrillas ambushed and killed 7 Spanish intelligence officers. Iraqi teenagers then, according to a Nov. 29th, Associated Press report, "gathered after the attack, chanting slogans in support of Saddam Hussein and kicking the bodies."
America may be winning "hearts and minds," but in Mosul (a city which was recently considered quite safe for Americans) two U.S. soldiers were shot while they were driving through the city. A dozen teenagers then dragged the wounded and bloody soldiers from their wrecked vehicle and "beat them with concrete blocks."
America may be winning "hearts and minds," but Iraqis are disgruntled that U.S. troops have wrapped entire villages with razor-wire and ordered all Iraqi males between 18 and 65 to obtain identification cards (read "A Region Inflamed" by Dexter Filkins, Dec. 7, 2003, The New York Times). In one village, Abu Hishma, the U.S. colonel in charge said he would not remove the razor-wire fences until the villagers handed over 6 guerrillas they were thought to be harboring. Note that people who have given you their hearts and minds don't harbor other people who try and kill you.
America may be winning "hearts and minds," yet even the Iraqis who rally to protest terrorism and stand "against oppression" couple such activities with demands that the Coalition Forces transfer power to Iraqis (read "Iraqis Rally For Human Rights," Nov. 12, 2003, News24.com).
In closing, let me merely say that the nature of guerrilla warfare is such that it requires the general citizenry to collaborate with the guerrillas. If America had really won the "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people then each and every guerrilla would have been turned in by Iraqi citizens months ago. Instead the Iraqi people have been harboring guerrilla forces.
America has not won and is not winning the "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people, and the situation in the Middle East will only continue to worsen.
