Iraq @ New Ruskin College
http://www.newruskincollege.com/
Lecture Notes: 7-15-07
Not everyone likes Iraq. It is too hot for some. Too dusty for others. Then there is the politics of the place. Really civil strife. A government teetering on the edge.
One thing that puts some off is the fact that the average age is 18. It is a young, really adolescent society. People drive too fast. And then there are the guns. And bombs. All driven by youthful idealism or at least youthful conviction.
Have you noticed that the houses don’t have house numbers displayed at their entrances? For one thing how do they get their mail? Do they have mailmen? And how do you develop a data base for the population? How do you know where everyone is living? What do you put on their identity papers?
No, not everyone likes Iraq. I think our President has soured on the place. He wanted them to be more like us. Older, for one thing. Yes, and more temperate. I think their Parliament mystifies him. Everything is subject to negotiations.
The Constitution, for example, which they have only just finished writing, was to be changed because Mr. Bush felt that the federal system needed to include the Sunnis’ view. (Why didn’t he provide a constitution for them which included a stronger central government? He did not think he had the right to “impose” on them.)
The oil distribution law also is being negotiated. And again this law was not originally established when the government was being set up because he did not want to impose a fair pro rata distribution for all the people of Iraq. Some imposition. Our young people are permitted to stay out on point while these negotiations go on. He can impose on our young people just not on the Iraqi.
The negotiations on the Constitution are so deep it is hard to tell where they stand. Months pass in complete silence but we are told that the negotiations are continuing. As outsiders it is hard to tell. Then too whole Iraqi Army units show up at 50% of strength because privates have negotiated leaves for themselves. (Which they need we are told because there is no such thing as direct deposit.)
It is a place where everything depends on who you know. Which explains why the mail delivery may be a bit spotty and why the government appears to be constantly teetering.
So these are some reasons why people, including our President, don’t like Iraq.
But your perspective changes if you start out accepting that it is a country which is facing 9 years of civil war. Things look different if you assume a government that is constantly negotiating its way. Then its gyrations don’t look so wild. Accept that it will always appear to be teetering. If you accept that it is a hot dusty place, accept it for what it is, things don’t look so alien.
I think our President needs to change his perspective. He tends to be a little up tight. He always dresses nattily. He went on the wagon completely. No half way for him. He jogged until he damaged his knees. He is very particular about how he sees things. ‘Stubborn,’ is a word which is often used about him.
But he may just be one of those people who don’t like Iraq very much. Not his cup of tea. He can not accept it for what it is. A country at war, that will be at war for years to come. A people with their own ways of solving their own problems. A society where everything is subject to negotiations of a highly personal nature.
Does he understand, for example, that our troops, our young people, are seen by the Iraqi as just another aspect of what is to be negotiated? If the Iraqi is told ‘We will stay in Iraq as long as the Iraqis need us’, as he did tell them, then is it so unreasonable for the Iraqi to assume that this has been settled? As long as needed.
Did the President mean for that to be our negotiating position? Did he even understand that he was negotiating? Senator Carl Levin told the President that this was just the wrong thing to tell the Iraqis. The President seemed to admit his mistake when he told the Senator in reply, “That’s a good point.”
Does the President propose his policies for Iraq because he likes Iraq so much? Or because he doesn’t like Iraq so much? Doesn’t like Iraq the way it really is?
Rather than changing Iraq perhaps the President should change his attitude about the place and accept it for what it is.
http://www.newruskincollege.com/
Lecture Notes: 7-15-07
Not everyone likes Iraq. It is too hot for some. Too dusty for others. Then there is the politics of the place. Really civil strife. A government teetering on the edge.
One thing that puts some off is the fact that the average age is 18. It is a young, really adolescent society. People drive too fast. And then there are the guns. And bombs. All driven by youthful idealism or at least youthful conviction.
Have you noticed that the houses don’t have house numbers displayed at their entrances? For one thing how do they get their mail? Do they have mailmen? And how do you develop a data base for the population? How do you know where everyone is living? What do you put on their identity papers?
No, not everyone likes Iraq. I think our President has soured on the place. He wanted them to be more like us. Older, for one thing. Yes, and more temperate. I think their Parliament mystifies him. Everything is subject to negotiations.
The Constitution, for example, which they have only just finished writing, was to be changed because Mr. Bush felt that the federal system needed to include the Sunnis’ view. (Why didn’t he provide a constitution for them which included a stronger central government? He did not think he had the right to “impose” on them.)
The oil distribution law also is being negotiated. And again this law was not originally established when the government was being set up because he did not want to impose a fair pro rata distribution for all the people of Iraq. Some imposition. Our young people are permitted to stay out on point while these negotiations go on. He can impose on our young people just not on the Iraqi.
The negotiations on the Constitution are so deep it is hard to tell where they stand. Months pass in complete silence but we are told that the negotiations are continuing. As outsiders it is hard to tell. Then too whole Iraqi Army units show up at 50% of strength because privates have negotiated leaves for themselves. (Which they need we are told because there is no such thing as direct deposit.)
It is a place where everything depends on who you know. Which explains why the mail delivery may be a bit spotty and why the government appears to be constantly teetering.
So these are some reasons why people, including our President, don’t like Iraq.
But your perspective changes if you start out accepting that it is a country which is facing 9 years of civil war. Things look different if you assume a government that is constantly negotiating its way. Then its gyrations don’t look so wild. Accept that it will always appear to be teetering. If you accept that it is a hot dusty place, accept it for what it is, things don’t look so alien.
I think our President needs to change his perspective. He tends to be a little up tight. He always dresses nattily. He went on the wagon completely. No half way for him. He jogged until he damaged his knees. He is very particular about how he sees things. ‘Stubborn,’ is a word which is often used about him.
But he may just be one of those people who don’t like Iraq very much. Not his cup of tea. He can not accept it for what it is. A country at war, that will be at war for years to come. A people with their own ways of solving their own problems. A society where everything is subject to negotiations of a highly personal nature.
Does he understand, for example, that our troops, our young people, are seen by the Iraqi as just another aspect of what is to be negotiated? If the Iraqi is told ‘We will stay in Iraq as long as the Iraqis need us’, as he did tell them, then is it so unreasonable for the Iraqi to assume that this has been settled? As long as needed.
Did the President mean for that to be our negotiating position? Did he even understand that he was negotiating? Senator Carl Levin told the President that this was just the wrong thing to tell the Iraqis. The President seemed to admit his mistake when he told the Senator in reply, “That’s a good point.”
Does the President propose his policies for Iraq because he likes Iraq so much? Or because he doesn’t like Iraq so much? Doesn’t like Iraq the way it really is?
Rather than changing Iraq perhaps the President should change his attitude about the place and accept it for what it is.
http://www.newruskincollege.com/
