Interesting report from a PBS
Interesting report from a PBS reporter in Baghdad:
It's very hard, though, for anybody to understand this. It can only be understood in terms of the depth of repression here, and it has to be said that this is not universal, of course. Having traveled throughout Baghdad in the last few hours, I can tell that you there are occasions when people are angry-- an old woman selling vegetables -- somebody pulling up alongside me in a car with a Kalashnikov who made a big show of snapping a magazine into the Kalashnikov in a most menacing way. There are, of course, people who, because they are loyalists of the regime or out of fear or out of suspicion of America's motives, don't want this war at all. And we don't know how numerous they are, and we also don't know... still don't know, given the nature of this closed society, how numerous are the others.All I can tell you is that-- and every reporter who is currently here will attest to this-- that the most extraordinary experience of the last few days has been a sudden breaking of the ice here with people in every corner of life coming forward to tell us that they understand what America is about in this. They are very, very fearful, of course, of errant bombing, of damage to Iraqi infrastructure, and they are very concerned about the kind of governance... the American military governance that they will come under afterwards...
But there is absolutely... can I just say there is absolutely no doubt, no doubt that there are many, many Iraqis who see what is about to happen here as the moment of liberation.
[Link via Hit and Run.]
I've always been optimistic that taking strong action -- as we seem to be doing now -- will do more on the hearts-and-minds front than any any other viable alternative. But make no mistake about it: these same people who welcome our arrival -- they'll be the ones who will make or break this campaign. What happens after Saddam will be the gauge of success or failure here.
Posted by Matt at March 20, 2003 7:52 PM
