{"id":708,"date":"2005-01-31T03:20:08","date_gmt":"2005-01-31T03:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"0"},"modified":"2006-09-28T12:08:59","modified_gmt":"2006-09-28T12:08:59","slug":"its_not_saddams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/?p=708","title":{"rendered":"It’s Not Saddam’s Country Any More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Logistics meant that I couldn’t be in front of a computer until tonight, but the reality is that it wouldn’t have mattered because I have been speechless in the face of events in Iraq.<\/p>\n

I don’t for a moment believe that today’s vote means that things are over, peace has come, and Starbucks’ will start setting up in Fallouja any time soon. But I do believe – strongly – that it shows the strength of the average Iraqi who wants, more than anything, a decent peaceful future for themselves and their children and were willing to brave incredible (and really, unfulfilled) threats of violence to make that happen.<\/p>\n

It’s their country now, not Saddam’s.I’ve been betting on the existence of the ‘silent middle’ in Iraq and throughout the Muslim world, and I’ll take a stand here and say that what this election proves, conclusively, is that such a middle exists. Now we’d damn well better do a good job of reaching out to them.<\/p>\n

Today also, I think, demonstrated something that I’ve been arguing for a while – the shallowness of the violent opposition in Iraq.<\/p>\n

Today’s violent acts (listed at Counterterrorism Blog<\/a>) were:<\/p>\n

Al-Qaida’s Committee in Iraq–led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi–has claimed responsibility for the following incidents on election day:<\/p>\n

* At least four coordinated attacks on election centers in and around Baghdad
\n* A rocket barrage fired at the protected Green Zone in Baghdad
\n* The destruction of a U.S. armored vehicle in Mosul
\n* The destruction of an Iraqi army Humvee with a large roadside bomb in Mosul
\n* Two separate mortar attacks on the same election center in the Wahdah neighborhood of Mosul
\n* A mortar and small arms attack on an election center in the Al*Nahrwan neighborhood of Mosul
\n* A small arms attack on the election center in the Andalusia neighborhood of Mosul
\n* A mortar attack on the election center in the Palestine neighborhood of Mosul.
\n* Various other alleged operations in Tel Afar, Ar*Ramadi, and the Diyala province<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I count a total of 12 events…nationwide.<\/p>\n

CNN has a list<\/a> of 14 attacks.<\/p>\n

Is this the best that Al-Zarqawi can do?<\/i><\/b> In the face of the single event that would permanently set back the legitimacy of his cause?<\/p>\n

I think it probably is, and that means something – it means that what we are facing is not a deeply rooted national revolt against an occupying power, but a thinly spread, well organized and skilled group of increasingly isolated fanatics.<\/p>\n

We stayed the night at a friend’s – who has a TV set and cable – and watched CNN all morning. Christina Amanapour mentioned (and I can’t find it on the CNN site) that an ambulance full of terrorists was driving through a neighborhood in Baghdad tossing grenades – and that a group of neighbors encircled it and captured the terrorists inside. <\/p>\n

I hope it’s true, because when the Iraqis realize that it’s their country, meybe they’ll have something to say to Al-Zarqawi and his kin about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logistics meant that I couldn’t be in front of a computer until tonight, but the reality is that it wouldn’t have mattered because I have been speechless in the face of events in Iraq. I don’t for a moment believe that today’s vote means that things are over, peace has come, and Starbucks’ will start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}