Faiza Back From America – Moon of Alabama

July 10, 2005

Faiza Back From America

Faiza, an Iraqi business women, is in Amman, just back from a visit to America. She writes:

So…the picture is clear, and sad…
America lives in a semi-dictatorship condition now…
What difference between that, and Iraq, at the time of Saddam Hussein?
What is the difference between the Americans opposing the war and the government policies, and the Iraqis who opposed Saddam Hussein, and his wars against Iran and Kuwait?
Weren’t they afraid of him, and his wrath? Didn’t he wash the minds of the majority of people, through the media, and force them to accept his viewpoint, and none other? Didn’t he accuse each Iraqi who opposes him of being a traitor to the country, or of anti-patriotism?
We were always debating: does our love for Iraq mean love for Saddam Hussein?
Is Saddam Hussein the homeland? Is he Iraq?
I always used to tell my boys: we must be patient… Saddam Hussein will go one day…but Iraq stays….
And here is Iraq now, under the fist of cruel, hateful hands, more cruel and unjust than those of Saddam Hussein’s and those with him….but we are prepared to do anything now, to refuse the existence of that occupation on our land, because we love Iraq, and want it’s banner to remain always high, towering, free, and independent…..
This is how we understand the love of our nation…. The leaders may be right, or wrong, they all go, sooner or later, but the homeland remains………. and it is the homeland that is worthy of sacrifices, so it would remain free, and independent.

A Family in Baghdad Thursday, June 30th, 2005

Posted by b on July 10, 2005 at 21:56 UTC | Permalink

Comments

The plans the Bush Pirate Clan have for America are low risk. For them. High risk for everyone outside their clan and their wealthy supporters.
We will receive a serf society, an ownership society where 10% of ‘we the people’ own pretty much everything, and everyone else works for wages and dies with no more of the pie than they started with.
Crashing and looting our economy is part of the plan. Run up the debts on all sides putting money in the pockets of the already rich. When the bill comes due, present it to the public sector, and wave the flag.
The mafia do this all the time with legit businesses. They walk away with plenty of bling, leaving the owner with all the bills. They call it ‘a blowout.’
When America’s companies are crashed, the already rich will buy them up at a dime on the dollar, and hire non-union workers.
Ba da boom, ba da bing, baby!

Posted by: Antifa | Jul 10 2005 22:31 utc | 1

Wow.
People are people everywhere
who knew?
49.5% of US voters, tht’s who knew.

Posted by: mdhatter | Jul 10 2005 23:25 utc | 2

‘ What is the difference between the Americans opposing the war and the government policies, and the Iraqis who opposed Saddam Hussein, and his wars against Iran and Kuwait? ‘
Coming from Faiza that’s very strong medicine.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Jul 11 2005 3:34 utc | 3

I can’t claim to be an expert but I was in Moscow for business on and off for a year during the Gorbachev “perestroika” era (without digging up old files I’d say it was in 89 or 90) and I recall that many Russians genuinely thought that within a year or so, they’d be living like (West) Germans.
At the hotel breakfast room in the morning, the Germans we chatted with thought it’d take Russia 20 years to catch up and the Russians were delusional because even opponents to the regime couldn’t have helped but buy into the “we’re the greatest” meme.
America is in the same delusional state; I think any clear-thinking outsiders (and many insiders like Krugman etc) can see that it’s headed for a fall.
And yet the public obliviously dances on.
I never ever understood Louis XVI as I do today. Let me recommend a movie called LA NUIT DE VARENNES who magnificently paints a picture of impending doom before people trapped in their delusions and unable to do what it takes to avoid their predictable fates.

Posted by: Lupin | Jul 11 2005 5:59 utc | 4

i couldnt agree more with faiza. we have the same problems here in europe, but not yet so extreme like the US.

Posted by: name | Jul 11 2005 6:26 utc | 5

To echo mdhatter from above, Wow!! Powerful and moving. But that every American could read or hear this message.
I repeat her question that faiza asks not just … the coming generations… but me also:
The unjustly treated nations, like the Iraqi people, understand exactly what is happening around them, always thinking, and working, to find a way out…..
But a nation like the American people is also in need of a way to salvation, for they are heading towards an abyss, and they should stop, and change the course…………..
If there were any smart, free minded people, they should work to change… this is their responsibility towards humanity, and the coming generations……………..
For those shall question them: what have YOU done to stop the flow of injustice, greed, and evil?

Posted by: Juannie | Jul 11 2005 10:48 utc | 6

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

From “To a Louse,” by Robert Burns.

Posted by: jlw | Jul 11 2005 19:38 utc | 7

On a tangential note, Uri Avnery writes from Israel about the war of ribbons — real ones, not magnetic plastic ones — between the theocratic settler partisans and the rule-of-law liberal or moderate camp. Many of his reflections could be transferred without much editing to life in disunited America (the red state / blue state meme):

A visitor to Israel at this time may get the impression that the country is in the throes of a contest between two football teams: orange and blue.
Thousands of cars are already flying ribbons with these colors, mostly from the antennas. This is very striking on the roads: those who fly different colors are treating each other with hostility, also expressed by their driving, while those who fly the same color exude a civility that is quite foreign to Israeli highways.
[…]
Those who fly the orange ribbon know this perfectly well. They swear to “paint the country orange” and aim to change its way of life from the bottom up. As they see it, the laws of the Knesset are invalid if they conflict with religious law (the Halakha), as interpreted by the “nationalist Zionist” rabbis, a nationalist-messianic faction with a fascist fringe. Government decisions are null and void if they are opposed to the will of God. And God, as is well known, speaks through the mouths of the settlers’ leaders […]

Dominionists, in other words. Or if we prefer, radical Islamists. Theocrats, fanatics burning with the urgency of G-d’s personal revelation to them of their own ineffable rightness… It seems that we are indeed in for a replay of the struggle between Enlightenment values and religious dogma… not that Israeli policy in the West Bank was particularly Enlightened even under more secular influences — Sharon’s realpolitik and the grab for water resources took place even without all the god-gabble. But this new “orange party” scares me as all these new theocratic outbursts scare me. It’s hard to reason with anyone who is sure he knows what God thinks and wants.

Posted by: DeAnander | Jul 12 2005 0:18 utc | 8

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