Iraqi blogger on US election: "The beginning of the end of a mad era?"

[madfloridian]

I have been impressed by the blogs from this guy. He also has a blog called A Glimpse of Iraq. He has a book out by that name. His posts are intelligent, biting. But kind. Much kinder than some of the comments from Americans I have seen in the comments there.

His blog post the day after our elections shows a lot of caution. The fact that many of our Democrats were complicit in allowing the attack on their country does not escape his eye.

US Midterms and Rummy and Iraq

I wasn't particularly jubilant earlier today! I didn't even follow the election results as closely as I should have: Bush was adamant to 'stay the course', the Democrats did not have a clear policy on Iraq. Some of them were even advocating the break-up of the country – a recipe for disaster...

But less than an hour ago this evening, and for the first time in more than a year, I listened carefully to what George Bush, the de-facto President of Iraq, had to say! It brought an unfamiliar warmth to my old heart to see that man, who brought so much death and destruction to my country, broken. He couldn't hide that. It was written all over him!

Can an Iraqi hope now? Perhaps a little.
Time for accountability? Dare we hope? Perhaps too soon for that.
The beginning of the end of a mad era? Perhaps too soon for that too.

To Americans I say: to see the man who has done so much damage to your country in that position in that press conference… I only have one word: Congratulations! Your democracy may have many illnesses; you have a long way yet to go… but tonight many of you have shown the rest of the world that It and you are not dead yet.

Yes, we have a long way to go. And to this blogger I say that many of us intend to hold feet to the fire over what we have done to your country....and to our honor as a country.

Peace to you, Abu Khaleel, if that be your name.

[madfloridian]

1. He blogs about The Fifth American. Fascinating analysis.

This post is called The Five Americans. I am only posting the one called The Fifth American.

http://iraquna.blogspot.com/2005/11/five-americans.html

"The Fifth American: Personally, this particular American has been a source of fascination for me over the past two years! These Americans are dead set on supporting this administration no matter what! They will not listen; they will not consider; they will not budge; full stop. No amount of reason, debate or argument, will produce any change of position. Not even facts will incite any prospect of reconsideration. I personally have given up trying to address them. They are mainly an American problem, but they have also indirectly done much damage to the world. This group includes the super-religious, the super-patriots, the super-haters, bigots and the super-dead-set! Even today, with the lies being slowly uncovered, massacres in Iraq being exposed, torture scandals exposed for all the world to see, “war on terror” being demonstrated to have been a disaster… these people refuse to acknowledge any of these things. With ready-made excuses, some of them incredibly flimsy, they will simply attack, attack and then attack any view point that they don’t agree with."

Very astute, very painful. Too bad it is true.

[jaxx]

2. I've never seen this blog before, but it is good.

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for more posts there.

[madfloridian]

3. Here is his other main blog...Glimpse of Iraq.

http://glimpseofiraq.blogspot.com/2005/12/cultural-differences-and-respect.html

I was just reading this article about cultural differences at his site. He writes so kindly of our foibles, though he must be feeling much differently about his beloved country. But these are things we would never have thought of, things that are simple, and things someone should have studied up about before we invaded them.

"It is probably perfectly normal for an adult American to be seen chewing gum in public. In traditional Iraqi society, the act of chewing a gum is reserved to women, but never in public. Country folk utterly despise city boys when they see them chewing gum. They regard it as feminine. Even little children are discouraged from doing it. The sight of grown, armed men chewing gum must have been one of the causes of many people losing their respect for those armed men! It simply conveys an unintentionally ‘undesirable’ image!

This also reminds me of a young US soldier manning the Iraqi side of the Iraqi-Jordanian border. He glanced at our passports with a lollypop in his mouth. I couldn’t help but notice the reaction on the taxi driver’s face: Utter contempt!

I really cannot blame those American boys for doing some things that are completely natural and normal. There was no way that they could have known that those little normal acts could be misinterpreted by others. But here I am talking about how perfectly normal actions can be seen from across the cultural divide. I cannot address the rights and wrongs of this. People’s cultures are different; we may see some of their attitudes as wrong or detestable, but that view will not change those attitudes, especially if they hold to them in their own environment and in their own country.

Things that would be normal to us. I guess. Although, now that I think about it I was raised not to chew gum in public.