"With a heavy dose of fear and violence..we can convince these people.."

[DuctapeFatwa]

The U.S. war against Iraq has found its own Lewis Carroll, its true poet and genius of the absurd: Lt. Colonel Nathan Sassaman. He commands a battalion that controls the Iraqi town of Abu Hishma. The other day, he told a New York Times reporter: "With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them." ...His comment should go down in history as the epitome of U.S. policy in Iraq. Every American should be required to memorize it and repeat it every day, while watching the news on television....

Listen to his fellow officer, Captain Todd Brown: "You have to understand the Arab mind. The only thing they understand is force. "...

Long ago, European imperialists created a stereotype of "the Arab mind" that included a hugely exaggerated concern with pride and saving face. This helped the colonial powers convince themselves that "the Arab mind" was excessively emotional, inherently irrational, and thus incapable of moving into the modern world where logic and pragmatism rule...Just like the colonizers of old, they plan to do it with force and violence....It didn't work for the British, the French, the Dutch, the Germans, the Belgians, or the Italians. It won't work for the Americans.

Abu Hishma is getting the same treatment as other Iraqi towns where U.S. troops have come under attack. The whole town is surrounded by a razor wire fence. Every inhabitant must show an ID card at a checkpoint to get in or out. A curfew prevents people from getting to morning and evening prayers at the mosque. Homes of suspected guerillas are being demolished. Perhaps most outrageously, totally innocent people are being jailed because they have a relative merely suspected...copied all these tactics from the Israeli occupation forces in Palestine. It is obviously not working for the Israelis. It won' t work for the Americans. ...Imagine your home town turned into a prison. Imagine your spouse or your child imprisoned because one of their relatives is suspected of resisting the occupation. Imagine Iraqi soldiers ordering you around every day in Arabic, because they cannot speak English....

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1208-09.htm

[Guaranteed]

1. "You have to understand the Arab mind. The only thing they...

...understand is force. "...

I think he forgot the "They're like animals" part that goes along with the rest of his "understanding" of the Muslim culture.

[Paschall]

2. Yup

And when I posted this a few weeks ago, people questioned its veracity and called it "inflammatory."

[DrBB]

3. You have to understand the neo-con mind

The only thing they understand is their own ideology. The fact that this same imperialist garbage has been tried repeatedly throughout history, including by the US in Viet Nam, and has never never ever ever worked is simply not a thought they are capable of entertaining.

Or to put it another way, the only thing they seem to understand is force.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. "Liberation" behind razor wire guarded by tanks.

They should erect a sign at the gate saying, "Arbeit Machs Frei", and issue the "liberated" Iraqis nice striped suits to wear.