Azzaman, Iraq
Iraqi Residents Welcome Resistance 'With Flowers'

“In the eyes of most Iraqis, and this is unfortunate to say, Americans are viewed as thieves, gangsters and thugs who have come to rape and molest women and girls, abuse prisoners, and destroy cities and residential districts one after the other.”

November 15, 2006
Azzaman - Iraq- Original Article (English)    

Women ululate. Children clap. Men raise their fists in the air and shout "Allah Akbar." And two young men approach and hand the masked "mujahideen" bouquets of flowers.

Such treatment was once supposed to be reserved for U.S. "liberation" troops. At least that's what American leaders thought before they sent their soldiers into the hell of Iraq.

But conditions today are just the opposite of what the current White House had in mind when they used every trick and lie in the book to sell their Iraq mission.

And look at their troops. American occupation forces, their leaders and their lackeys are now the most despised people in Iraq. America's "liberation" of Iraq is now seen here as a deliberate attempt to destroy the country.

No sane Iraqi today would even utter the word "liberation." No sane Iraq would look at American occupation troops as "liberators." In the eyes of most Iraqis, and this is really unfortunate to say, Americans are viewed as thieves, gangsters and thugs who have come to rape and molest women and girls, abuse prisoners, and destroy cities and residential districts one after the other.

And to Iraqi eyes, the resistance fighters that so torment U.S. forces in Iraq are viewed as the "heroes of liberation," and are held in the highest esteem and respect. Stories abound of how residents of many Iraqi cities, where the brunt of resistance against the occupation is taking place, provide shelter to anti-U.S. rebels. Following successful resistance operations, residents leave their homes to celebrate rebel victories and pour scorn on the Americans.

Why did this happen? The answer lies with the White House and its occupants. Look at them and the way they are struggling to get out of the quagmire they have created. Their only concern is how to "prevail," and minimize their losses - and loss of face. There is little talk of the country they have imploded and the hundreds of thousands of innocent people their disastrous polices have killed, maimed and uprooted.

More than a hundred innocent Iraqis are killed every day in Baghdad alone, and the Bush White House remains unmoved. The only thing that moves them are their strategic interests. To hell with Iraq and its 26 million people. Any solution to the crisis now devouring innocent lives like forest fire is rejected if it fails to meet their strategic interests. They refuse to conduct serious talks with the resistance because its demands contradict their interests. Let the Iraqis dying in droves be damned.

They have antagonized and marginalized two of the states which share 2,000 kilometers of borders with Iraq. They state openly that their policies are to destabilize both Syria and Iran, and at the same they ask those nations not to disturb their presence in Iraq.

And these are the people that want Iraqis to believe that they have come as "liberators" rather than invaders?

VIDEO FROM SYRIA: 'IRAQI RESISTANCE

HAS SHOWN LIMITS OF U.S. HEDGEMONY'

SYRIAN TV, SYRIA: Excerpts from an interview with Secretary-General of the Sunni Clerics Association in Iraq, Sheik Hareth Al-Dhari, June 24, 00:04:48, Via MEMRI

"The occupation, the destruction, the killing, and so on only increase the hatred of the Iraqis towards America, the Americans, and the American army. The Iraqis will continue to put up resistance to the American army as long as blood flows in their veins, even if it stays there for decades."

Sheik Hareth Al-Dhari