Alaa on The Mesopotamian posts a stirring description of what was going on under Saddam Hussein and why our current involvement is both difficult and morally inescapable. It is profoundly thoughtful on a human dimension as well as analytically rigorous in a way that most of the debate over US "involvement" is not. For instance, he discusses the social conditions that "created a traumatized and dehumanized generation." And he also discusses a variety of terror that transcends statistics about the dead:
But more, much more than that; I don't want to depress you with details of the terror and pray to God that no one, no people should ever endure this. Suffice it to say that personal death was not the worse thing, not even in the top league of "Worst Things". I mean, you can see this even now from the kind of terror campaign that "He" is conducting even from his dying bed. The main concern of prison cell "designers" was not to have anything in the cell, which could be used for suicide purposes. This was quite a serious problem for them. A suicide was considered a very serious negligence and could incur cruel punishment. It was not even torture that was the worst thing.You may think this is some kind of dramatization and exaggeration, but believe me death is nothing compared to having your wife or sister raped in front of your eyes, in seeing your children brought in and tortured in your presence. And so many things like that, I don't like to go on. Even to this very day, many of the incredible crimes, some of which innovations that were never heard of before, are either directly perpetrated or instigated or financed by the organized cells of former security and private army officers, belonging mostly to these very clans confronting your soldiers.
What really gives us pain is the habit of referring to these people as "the Iraqis". Well if they are Iraqi on paper, then the majority of ordinary Iraqis do not feel any kinship with them. It is for this reason as you can see, that the real target of their terror and crime is not really the Coalition, but rather the Iraqi people. In the last couple of days only, two or three school children died amongst many others, one deliberate attack at a primary school in Kabala. This deliberate attacking of children, who else has done, even amongst the worst hardened terrorists and criminals. In fact, their wrath and fury against the foreign troops does not stem from any patriotism or xenophobia. Oh no; you have interfered with their stranglehold on the population, they can no longer loot, torture, extort, rape and generally do as they [please].
And it is also worthwhile to read the comments section. An example:
Alsalam Alaykum,Posted by Demosophist at November 23, 2003 12:37 PM | TrackBackToday, the terrorists in Istanbul answered the “peace” demonstrators in London. Those who have eyes can see, and those who have ears can hear, but there are those whom “God has sealed their hearts for them with a mask, so that they are deaf, dumb and blind and thus can hardly comprehend anything”