More Hearts and Minds Screwups

From Juan Cole:

Hundreds of Shiites Demonstrate in Baghdad

"Hundreds of angry Shiites demonstrated in Baghdad on Tuesday, over the killing of a mosque prayer leader by US troops. They gathered in front of the Palestine Hotel, carrying placards and carrying pictures of the slain cleric, Shaikh Abd al-Razzak al-Lami, 64, of East Baghdad (Sadr City), and of his smashed auto, over which they claimed US tanks had run last Friday. They complained that after the incident, US troops had fled the scene and left the shaikh's body there. They called for the tank drivers to be punished."

Cole has another post where he links to an article by Amal Winter, an Arab-American woman who visited Iraq post-invasion under the auspices of International Federation for Election Systems as a Pre-Elections Assessment Analyst. A few excerpts:

"The IGC is composed mostly of Iraqi exiles returning
with the occupying powers. Only two of its members are 'internal' Iraqis
and only two are women. The returning Iraqi exiles, men who lived abroad
for 10 to 35 years, like Ahmad Chalabi who left Iraq as a child in 1958,
have been given a disproportionately large role in the transitional
process by the CPA but are disliked and distrusted by the local Iraqis
who had to suffer under Saddam. Local Iraqis believe the exiles enjoyed
the 'good life' in the West and returned, rich and powerful-allied with
the occupying forces-to become the new ruling elites. The fact that
Chalabi, under indictment in Jordan for embezzling $30 million dollars,
has been Rumsfeld's principle advisor does not lend the CPA-or the
IGC-the legitimacy they seek."

"It wasn't difficult to see that the Coalition Authority has
concentrated on revitalizing the oil-fields rather ran insuring the
minimal level of day-to-day security to which the average Iraqi was
accustomed. Most Iraqis have known nothing but the terrorizing Ba'athist
regime, the horrors of eight years of the Iran-Iraq war followed by the
Gulf War, and ten years of harsh economic sanctions but there was always
strict internal security. In my view as a psychologist, the violence and
looting that broke out after the bombings were predictable indications
of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the face of post-war chaos.
Without the strict security, roaming gangs were breaking into local
residences, mafia-types were extracting protection money from
shop-keeper, and politically motivated violence was increasing. Women
are staying home from work and shopping and children are being kept home
from school to escape the violence created by thugs and criminals which
Saddam released before the invasion, Ba'ath supporters who are
intimidating the populace to reduce potential support for the
occupation, personal and tribal vendettas, and foreign forces coming
through the suddenly porous borders of Kuwait, Syria and Iran."

And this informative paragraph:
When it comes to the claim that we came to liberate the country
from the oppressive, near-genocidal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, the
Iraqi's applaud our success. But, now that the euphoria is over, they
are assessing the cost to their personal day-to-day lives. They feel
their basic needs are endangered by the lack of security, social
services and employment opportunities. Many Iraqis told me that although
they expected improvement in a few years time, as far as jobs and
personal security went, their lives had been better under Saddam's
regime."

Meanwhile, in the other war, more grim news:

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 10 -- Six children and two adults were crushed to death under a toppled wall Friday during an air and ground assault by U.S. military forces on a farm compound in eastern Paktia Province, U.S. military officials in Afghanistan confirmed Wednesday.

In case anyone hasn't figured it out--you won't win hearts and minds by killing civilians--even if your government tersely expresses "regret" over the "innocent loss of life" in the "fog of war."

It's kind of funny--while there are cultural differences vis-a-vis the West and the Middle East or Central Asia, this is an instance where the contrasts mean nothing--people get outraged when their children/friends/relatives/loved ones get killed. Duh. And while our mistakes in the course of "targeted assassinations" or, in this case, an attempt to destroy a weapons cache are just that--mistakes, unlike September 11th, when the murder of civilians was planned--the problem is that the victims are no less dead because we say we're sorry.

In the end analysis, though, we WILL be sorry, because our ability to project US power overseas has suffered a disasterous blow. If we can't even control Afghanistan, or Iraq, what will this tell the REAL terrorists, who have NO alliegance to ANY country, but who instead promulgate fundamentalist religious ideology, which should give any sane human being pause. By fighting this so-called 4th Generation Conflict with 2nd Generation Tactics, we engage in disservice to the entire world, which is far more subject to terrorist action as these fundamentalists will likely take advantage of the fact that we're bogged down, in military terms, we're spending foolish amounts of money abroad, which means fewer resources can be devoted to the international police effort that it would take (in combination with Special Forces Actions when necessary) to investigate then track down the relatively small number of creeps who wish to bring Armageddon from metaphysical fantasy to deadly reality--to the delight of both Osama bin Laden and freaks like Tom DeLay.

And, on that note, check this out from Billmon. Don't forget to link to the Guardian article as well. The neo-cons are so blind--even the globalists are getting afraid. After all, Armageddon might make for a short-term boon in war-related securities, but the long-term outlook is decidedly bearish.