| Saturday, December 17, 2005 |
| News from Baghdad |
In an email I received this morning from my friends at the US Embassy in Baghdad, they report that they were very happy with the turnout from the elections, and have high hopes that things will begin to gel in a direction that might allow us to make a dent in stabilizing certain areas and ultimately allow for troop withdrawal. But hey, not so fast, they caution.
A. reported that she had to don her flak jacket and gear and dive under her table when some celebratory gunfire got a little too close for comfort yesterday. After things calmed down, she discovered a number of bullet holes in her trailer and in the sandbags piled next to it. But, she said, in an absurdly positive note, it's the first time something like that has gotten so close in months, and it was "happy" gunfire! "Happy Gunfire" - that's what she said.
Her husband B. is less optimistic about long term stability in Iraq. The fact of the matter is that only a dictator as horrible as Saddam Hussein was able to keep the fragile fabric of Kurds, Shiites and Sunii-Arabs woven together through constant fear, terror and military control. Once we leave, there is a huge likelihood of civil war amongst these groups, despite all the niceties of a democratic process and political infrastructure. You can institutionalize government, and make policies forever, but you cannot institutionalize culture, religion, and years upon years of traditions, values, and history. |
posted by Broadsheet @ 10:32 AM   |
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