Hearts and Minds

If there's one thing suggestive of a losing proposition in Iraq, it's been underscored by public reaction to US abuses of the prisoners in their care: Americans have minimized the importance by framing it against their larger, noble purpose; while Arabs have carried it to the conclusion that the US is no better than Saddam Hussein.

"They keep asking why we hate them? Why we detest them? Maybe they should look well in the mirror and then they will hate themselves," said Khadija Mousa from Syria.

Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the pan-Arabist London newspaper, al-Quds al-Arabi, said, "The liberators are worse than the dictators. This is the straw that broke the camel's back for America . . . "That really, really is the worst atrocity. It affects the honour and pride of Muslim people. It is better to kill them than sexually abuse them."

Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan writes: "I really wonder whether, with the emergence of these photos, the game isn't over for the Americans in Iraq. Is it realistic, after the bloody siege of Fallujah and the Shiite uprising of early April, and in the wake of these revelations, to think that the US can still win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi Arab public?"

For America, this war has been too wrapped up in an emotional response to 9/11 and the need for revenge, combined with the need to feel self-righteous and noble while acting it out. As Americans, we don't understand Iraqis or care particularly for their plight, unless we get to congratulate ourselves for doing so every step of the way. What is significant about Fallujah and the pictures of abuse is that it obstructs our ability to congratulate ourselves. Our own opinion of ourselves is high so long as we are sheltered from the realities of war--but take the illusion away and we are instantly demoralized. We have barely begun to grasp the reality of our own dead; I think it's more than fair to say that we are completely uninterested in the thousands of Iraqi dead, which our government feels no obligation even to keep count.

It's tragically striking to me how self-centered this operation has been. We were arrogant enough to believe that we could do something without anyone else's input or approval, just because of our high opinion of ourselves. Now reality is sinking in: our children our being killed and the Iraqis appear ungrateful. We feel bad about abuse pictures. Maybe we don't want to be there at all anymore. We tried, but the Iraqis let us down. It wasn't our fault. The world just wasn't ready for democracy.