Friday, May 14, 2004
How to Make Friends and Influence People in Iraq: Kill Americans. posted by Richard Seymour
Muqtada al-Sadr is one popular mofo in Iraq right now, and it isn't because of his batty ideology. No, the bearded chubster is winning hearts and minds faster than a speeding bullet because, and only because, he has resisted both Saddam and the Americans. Juan Cole comments :I am surprised by the high numbers in Basra, where I think the rival al-Fudala branch of Sadrism is more important. The level of support for Muqtada has almost certainly increased greatly since late March when the poll was done.
My own view is that Muqtada has now won politically and morally. He keeps throwing Abu Ghuraib in the faces of the Americans. He had his men take refuge in Najaf and Karbala because he knew only two outcomes were possible. Either the Americans would back off and cease trying to destroy him, out of fear of fighting in the holy cities and alienating the Shiites. Or they would come in after Muqtada and his militia, in which case the Americans would probably turn the Shiites in general against themselves. The latter is now happening.
The Americans will be left with a handful of ambitious collaborators at the top, but the masses won't be with them. And in Iraq, unlike the US, the masses matter.
You are not, then, in blind adoration of the US and all its works, Juan? You must be an evil-doer of some variety.
The message, however, for ambitious Iraqi politicians and demagogues is this: fight the occupation, unrelentingly. The moral high ground is yours. Iraqis will support you. And so, increasingly, will everyone else. You know it makes sense.