We are driven to simplify all issues with catchy slogans and reduce them to labels that speak so loudly and yet, mean nothing. We talk about "the mess in Iraq," "Islamic fundamentalism," "Islamofascism," "al-Qaeda," and patriotism.
We all know what these terms mean, don't we? It is so much easier for us to dismiss the fratricide in Iraq as something that is innate in Islam; a culture that is far too violent to understand peace or democracy: they are fighting because of "hundreds of years of hatred," they want to go heaven by killing others. The real fact is that we don't know what is going on, how to stop it, or how to get out.
Our news services also define and frame issues for us, so much so that we are hard put to step outside of the frame that imprisons our minds. Iraqis are cast as mindlessly violent and divided along Shia and Sunni lines. We are told they kill each other with psychopathic zeal and all share the common goal of killing our soldiers, who came only as liberators.
I have read much material from overseas sources and spoken with a few Muslims who have actually visited Iraq recently. What they tell me is not only enlightening but also makes perfect sense when one looks at the picture from a distance and without preconceived notions.
Iraq is being shredded between the jaws of so many players that it is incredible that anything still exists. Perhaps it does not, and we just hope it does.
There are intelligence agents from many nations trying to find their angle in Iraq, some with the United State's blessings and others without. Every nation from Russia to Turkey, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Syria, Iran, Egypt and Jordan, and, of course, those from the "Coalition of the Willing" are making sure the people and groups they believe in will be helpful to their country. They want them to get the upper hand. Life lost in the process appears to not even been given a thought, whether the loss is Iraqi or American.
Their own mafias, who will ally themselves with Shia, Sunni and Kurd as long as their goals are reached, represent each of these nations. There being little law and order in Iraq, any perception of resistance is immediately terminated and nobody is the wiser.
The mafias' game is smuggling: arms, food, luxury items and oil. There are millions of dollars in play here, the rewards are immediate and huge, more than drug smuggling right now and with almost no danger, unless you happen to step into another's territory.
While we are at it, we must not forget the many Iraqi gangs, mafias and sectarian groups are very active as well. Their game is money, as well as capturing as much territory as possible.
All of these groups fight each other with changing allegiances. In many cases, vengeance cannot be meted out easily, so the opposition kills members of the other's sect or tribe. Sometimes the killings are targeted and sometimes they are unintentional, but still deadly.
Iraq is a classic example of complete anarchy in which everybody is involved in killing everybody else, either directly or by his or her support or silence. It is easy for us to sit here and point righteous fingers at those "savages" and dismiss them as violent al-Qaeda, Islamists or terrorists.
The reality is that this situation is brought about because of our actions.
The first thing we did after the defeat of the Iraqis was to immediately disband the Iraqi military, police and anyone with any connections to the Iraqi Ba'ath party. Suddenly unemployed, the soldiers and the police did the only rational thing anyone would do; they took all the weapons and explosives they could load on to any vehicle and hid the materials for use or sale later.
Those who find this line of thought a bit too much to swallow should take a look at Louisiana. New Orleans is the highest crime-rate area in the United States today because there is little law and order to be seen. Society has broken down along racial and social lines, and any who cross those invisible lines are mugged, beaten or killed.
This, in the most powerful country in the world. What should one then expect in a country whose every civil and military service has been deliberately destroyed?
What would any person of goodwill do in such a society where lack of allegiance is a death sentence and where the first gun to roar, wins?
What would any honest person do if there is no job to work and no means of providing for his family except by joining a gang?
What would an aspiring politician do if offered help by some intelligence group or some mafia?
We cannot dismiss Iraqis by saying they are nasty, violent animals that follow a nasty, violent faith. We must first ask who created this high-pressure experiment in "democracy" and how people would react to it.
Then we have to insist that our nation fix the proverbial Humpty-Dumpty before we do the disappearing act that we are so well known for, all over the world.
Seattle writer and community activist Jafar Siddiqui may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com.
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