Iraqi forces head to Basra on an American C-130, April 3. But will they battle their feuding Shiite brethren after they arrive?
In light of the recent Shiite-on-Shiite battles raging in Iraq’s most important port city, Basra, what do the words ‘patriotism,’ ‘freedom,’ and ‘sovereignty‘ mean to Iraqis? After being occupied by the United States and others for the past five years, according to this op-ed from Iraq, their definitions of these terms bear little resemblance to our own.
Fatih Abdulsalam writes for Iraq’s Azzaman newspaper, “In Iraq, everything is relative. What the official political parties see as lawlessness, others inside and outside Iraq see as the most legitimate activity under the law, linked as they are to spiritual and humanitarian beliefs … and patriotism.”
Writing about patriotism and freedom and alluding to Iran and the United States, Abdulsalam reflects the anger an frustration of Iraqis. “The word patriotism is just a relic from a prior age or Saddam’s toppled regime. Being a collaborator with a foreign power is accepted as the surest way to achieve strategic advantage. Freedom means simply being able to stand in Baghdad’s Liberation Square under the Memorial to the Unknown Soldier cursing and accusing all other Arab capitals of treason against the Iraqi nation for refusing to show respect to our own lame politicians – who are nothing but influence peddlers, mercenaries, thieves and charlatans who rely on F16s to maintain their power and legitimacy over the people.”
By Fatih Abdulsalam
Translated By Ahmed Naoual and Nicolas Dagher
March 30, 2008
Iraq – Azzaman – Original Article (Arabic)
In Iraq, everything is relative. What the official political parties see as lawlessness, others inside and outside Iraq see as the most legitimate activity under the law, linked as they are to spiritual and humanitarian beliefs … and patriotism.
With the country ablaze and with more fire coming from ever direction, usually well-understood concepts are jumbled together and serve to further inflame. Terms in use in Iraq’s political life don’t have the same meaning as their equivalents in the outside world. For example here, sovereignty has a different meaning. In Iraq, the ruling parties use the term merely as a way to conceal their own failures and extend the cover-up of their misdeeds.
The word patriotism is just a relic from a prior age or Saddam’s toppled regime. Being a collaborator with a foreign power is accepted as the surest way to achieve strategic advantage. Freedom means simply being able to stand in Baghdad’s Liberation Square under the Memorial to the Unknown Soldier cursing and accusing all other Arab capitals of treason against the Iraqi nation for refusing to show respect to our own lame politicians – who are nothing but influence peddlers, mercenaries, thieves and charlatans who rely on F16s to maintain their power and legitimacy over the people.
Because if Arab rulers ever acknowledged our so-called leaders, they might invite the spread of the “Iraqi experience” to their own countries. They fear that if the democracy that a mere million Iraqis sacrificed their lives for ever broke out, they would lose their crowns.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated coverage of the Iraq War from the Iraqi perspective.
Founder and Managing Editor of Worldmeets.US