Why the French Act Isn't Funny Anymore

Err ..

McG: "most Iraqi's remain grateful for being liberated"

CPA poll: "only 2 per cent of the Iraqis polled in mid-May see coalition troops as liberators, while 92 per cent said they were occupiers."

Looks like both "grateful" and "liberated" is contested here ...

Did the poll ask them if they were grateful about being liberated? If not, it doesn't really apply to my statement does it?

A myth has developed that Iraqis aren't grateful for their liberation from Saddam. So it's worth noting that the leaders of Iraq's new interim government have been explicit and gracious in their thanks, not that you've heard this from the U.S. media.

First in Arabic and then in English, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in his inaugural address to the Iraqi people last Tuesday that "I would like to record our profound gratitude and appreciation to the U.S.-led international coalition, which has made great sacrifices for the liberation of Iraq." In his own remarks, President Ghazi al-Yawer said: "Before I end my speech, I would like us to remember our martyrs who fell in defense of freedom and honor, as well as our friends who fell in the battle for the liberation of Iraq."

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the U.N. Security Council much the same thing last Thursday: "We Iraqis are grateful to the coalition who helped liberate us from the persecution of Saddam Hussein's regime. We thank President Bush and Prime Minister Blair for their dedication and commitment."

link

The hand-picked leaders thank the US and this reflects the views of the Iraqi people? What a hoot. It's a bit like Bush speaking for all the US people...

Right, I forgot that there are still some Saddam supporters out there.

Those Iraqis who lost family members during "Shock and Awe" or were abused in prison by US soldiers, or rousted out of bed for whatever reason by US soldiers may also demur from the cheering.

Or were all those people Saddam supporters, McG?

A very small percantage of the whole, though, wouldn't you agree?

What are we arguing here? That there's only "some Saddam supporters" who dont feel their views are reflected by the newly appointed Iraqi government? Or that there's only "some Saddam supporters" who dont share Mr. Allawi's "profound gratitude and appreciation" for the US?

Well, just the other day I was reading an interview with an Iraqi who had been imprisoned by Saddam and hated him fiercely. He now is the editor of a newspaper that calls for an insurrection against the American troops, and doesnt accept the new government's legitimacy.

Lots more where he comes from. Another interview some two weeks before was with members of a militia in Sadr City. Sadr City was the stronghold of anti-Saddam feeling, but after the occupation quickly turned into the stronghold of anti-American feeling. The militiamen had nothing up with Saddam, but in the evening, they went out to shoot at Americans. One of them used the gun he got through his dayjob - working for the newly formed Iraqi police ...

There's few, but fanatic Saddamites. There's few, but fanatic foreign Al-Qaeda fighters. There's a whole bunch of followers of the rebel clergyman Sadr. And lots of Iraqis just angry at the American occupation.

Personally, I hope Allawi's government will make it. They, too, had been breathlessly awaiting Mr. Bremer's departure. I hope they get the chance to prove themselves as genuine defenders of the Iraqi population's interests, before the elections. And it will be at that time that we'll know for sure whether Allawi's men reflected the views of the Iraqi people.

For now, we have to go on stuff like CPA-ordered opinion polls. They show little sympathy for Saddam, so I think we can safely assume the Iraqis are glad he's out. They also show that whatever feeling of liberation his ouster might have created was overridden by the sense that what in fact had happened was an "occupation" (92%), not a "liberation" (2%). If they don't feel that what happened was a liberation in the first place, then the question of whether they were grateful about said liberation is moot. There wasn't any, apparently, according to the Iraqi vox populi. In the meantime, the same polls show feeling towards the American soldiers is dominated by massive distrust instead (with only 10% trusting them).