Just a guess.

About a month ago, I was watching Al-Iraqyia TV. They were hosting a spokesman of the coalition and the secretary of the Muslim Sunni Cleric Council Harith Muthanna Al-Dhari. They were talking about the revolt in Falujah. That guy was an extremely anti-American fanatic cleric and he didn’t even try to hide his feelings. Still he had two valid points in his argument. They discussed the mutilation of the bodies of the four American contractors and the host asked the sheikh the following questions:

-Do you approve of this action?

-We certainly do not and we have condemned this action.

-How do you explain what happened?!

-As for attacking the contractors, I’ve learned that the people who did it had some relatives killed and imprisoned by the American army. It was a tribal revenge issue, and as far as I know these were not contractors, they were serving with the American army and thus they are legitimate targets for the resistance. What happened later was an act of the mob and you know common people don’t usually consider what they do and follow any stupid and enraged action that release the pressure they have especially when there’s no police to fear.

-Is it true that Fallujah harbor most of the ex-Baathists and Saddam followers and that these are the bulk of the so-called resistance?

-No, that’s absolutely not true. We were always against Saddam and his regime.

-Come on Saddam named Al-Anbar as one of the “white governorates” because its people didn’t take part in the uprising in 1991, and you have had many pro-Saddam demonstrations since the 9th of April there!

-Now that’s not true and let me tell you something you may not know. First there were only two demonstration supporting Saddam after he was caught and that’s how they happened: Soon after Saddam was captured, a reporter from one of the Arab satellite channels, and I don’t want to mention its name, came downtown, gathered a bunch of teenagers, handed each one of them 20US $ and gave them some pictures of Saddam. He then asked them to shout and dance and made a great report out of it. The same thing happened again in exactly the same manner!

Such perspective seems to be valid as it comes from such a source, and I’m quoting this today because I think that what happened yesterday doesn’t differ much from what happened in Fallujah and most of the ugly scenes the media was so keen to show us. The people who were dancing and throwing rocks at the burned cars were common She’at (as it was obvious from their Latmia; the religious ceremony that’s practiced by the common She’at) who ‘happened’ to be there and I guess that these were mainly Muqtada’s followers. As to how they knew about what was going to happen, then I guess this is something that the reporters can help us with. It’s also well known that Muqtada have very strong –and very unexpected- relations with the Wahabbis.

Such disgusting actions happen everywhere in the world and they are only very evident in Iraq because of the difficult security problems and the fact that the media concentrate on this particular scene. These people want us to believe that Iraqis are not worth it, that they hate America and that this process is a total failure, but what should we believe? Can we just dare and question their perspectives? Do we have independent minds that can guide us to see the whole picture? Aren’t there so many positive achievements that happened in Iraq in the past year? If all Iraqis were against the change or they were dormant, then how come all this has been accomplished!? Can we just stop and ask ourselves why the terrorists are so interested in showing their actions filmed to the world?!

These people want us to lose faith in each other and they get help from many countries in the region who are afraid of the change and from some democratic countries that hate the fact that America is on the top. They also get help from many of the major American media who seem to care for nothing other than money.

They tell us that GWB want the world to live in fear through his continuous preach for war on terror. I want to say that GWB and his administration have done the right thing for America, Iraq, the region and the whole world. You may disagree with the way they are managing this but we shouldn’t let your feelings stop you from seeing the truth, and I’m very heartened when I see so many democrats supporting their governments in Iraq. On the other hand, the anti-war people, media and governments want us to give up, they want us to believe that it’s useless, that Iraqis don’t deserve the sacrifices, that the Americans are in Iraq for the oil and that all the American soldiers abuse and hate Iraqis. They want us to live in peace, their peace, with each one of us hiding behind a wall and pointing his gun to the others, “all Muslims are terrorists” “Iraqis are barbarians who don’t understand democracy” “Americans are in Iraq to control oil wells” “this is Hlliburton’s war not ours” they keep shouting. It’s amazing that these people always claim to support peace, freedom and democracy when they don’t even have a vision of how to make that happen! But the truth to be told, they’re one hell of a chorus!

I’ve decided long ago not to trust what these people say and what the media shows me. I’ve decided not to even watch Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabyia. I decide to love and trust the others and not to allow small events committed by few ignorant to shape my views about a whole nation. No my friends, I refuse to be trapped in this momentary dark picture that's far from convincing and that's not just because I'm an Iraqi, it's because I can't let anyone tell me what to believe in.

-By Ali.