IRAQ THE MODEL

:: I plan to make quoting from Iraqis' comments on the BBC Arabic forum a weekly corner of this blog (or when there's a hot topic). It's one of the ways to show opinions of Iraqis other than those usually not seen in the western media (although this site is a part of the western media but as it is in Arabic so I don't think many people in the west can benefit from it. This time the comments are related to the main topic on the Iraqi field; the formation of the interim government.

I noticed that there were more positive comments from Arabs this time than in the past weeks but I also noticed that most of the negative ones came from Syria (largest share) while there's a remarkable change in attitude in the comments coming from KSA, Egypt or Jordan. Another observation was that negative comments from Iraqis decreased significantly also and actually I could find only one comment of those.


“Congratulations to the Iraqi people, may the future bring more happiness.
Lie no.1: we’ll crush the Americans at the gates of Baghdad. Fact: the regime ran away and fell apart without resistance and the regime’s head tried to flee to save himself with a couple of hundred millions of dollars.

Lie no. 2: the heroic leader is the courageous son of a tribe and he’ll fight to the last breath. Fact: he surrendered in a rat hole without shooting a single bullet.

Lie no.3: the objective of the American invasion is the Balkanization of Iraq. Fact: Iraq wasn’t divided as some wished to see.

Lie no.4: the Americans will plant hate and mistrust among She’at, Sunni and Kurdish Iraqis to make Iraqi another Lebanon. Fact: no civil war-that the terrorists wanted to provoke- happened.

Lie no.5: Iraq was invaded to let America steal Iraq’s oil and control the prices. Fact: oil prices increased and the (oil coupons scandal) pointed out the actual thieves who stole Iraq’s oil while under sanctions.

Lie no.6: Iraq was invaded to put a hand on Iraqi’s money. Fact: 68 billion dollars were assigned from America’s budget to cover the expenses of the troops and the reconstruction in addition to another 25 billion dollars assigned this month.

Lie no. 7: the explosions and random killings were fabricated by the Americans to postpone the sovereignty hand-over to Iraqis. Fact: the interim government was formed and the new president was chosen a month before the planned hand-over date.”
Jihad – Iraqi in USA.

“Discussing the political side of any subject should cover all the facts on the ground related to this subject; otherwise it will be unrealistic and lacking reason. The subject of the new Iraqi government, till now, is only a breeze of hope to put our feet on the right direction and this is also a phase to test the dedication of those men until the day of future elections. By reviewing the plans announced by Dr. Allawi regarding the coming eight months (if he succeeded to implement them), peace and comfort almost kick fear out of our hearts.”
Nadhom Mohammed – Baghdad/Iraq.

“The government that that the US put in charge can-in no way-be the beginning of a change towards democracy because democracy and freedom pave the road for the countries of the region towards progress in industry, the thing that America doesn’t want to occur.”

Mohammed – Syria.

“I don’t understand how could a government be independent when it’s chosen by the occupier? What I fear as an Arab is that Iraq might turn to be a dagger in our nation’s back”
Firas – Syria.

“My reply is directed to the two gentlemen, Mohammed and Firas from Syria: actually I want to state here that the Syrians are the last to have the right to criticize the new Iraqi government. Whatever this government’s nature is; the president didn’t heir the throne from his father. Your house is built of glass, gentlemen and you know it’s not difficult to smash it.”
Aws Al-Husainy – Nasiriyah/Iraq.

“To our Arab brothers, let’s imagine that an Arabic brother nation or even an Islamic nation came to Iraq, spent her money and sacrificed her sons’ blood to save the Iraqis from Saddam. Would that savior nation leave Iraqis alone after that?
I believe that America wants a democracy in Iraq but within known limits just to ensure that there will be no threat to her interests in the future. Part from that, there will be plenty of space for Iraqis to move within which opens real new horizons for a better future. As far as I know, this is all what any human being-not suffering from paranoia or still holding ancient slogans-wish.”
Mudhir Hussain – Baghdad.

“I believe that the sovereignty hand-over WILL happen, even if it needs several stages and this is just a matter of time. Dictatorship has gone forever and we’re not feeling sorry for that.
We support Yawer because he’s an educated, open-minded man and he descends from a respectable family. He has moderate perspectives and we expect him to use this feature to approximate Iraqis’ opinions and we’ll support him in his mission although he’s a ceremonial president as I heard.

As for the cabinet, I think that despite the fact that it was formed without elections and we do disagree with the formation in some points but it’s much better than most of the Arabic governments’ formations. I hope that Allawi succeeds in improving the economic and security situations. And I think that if he succeeded to do so he may have a chance to be elected with his cabinet next year. Otherwise we shall stand in his face but through voting boxes (like in other democracies) not through violence.

One last thing to say: we, in Iraq, have learnt the lesson and we’re not going to praise and clap to anyone and no one can force us to do so no matter what his place is. The road to dictatorships starts with clapping”
Mohammed – Baghdad.