James_F
03-28-03, 09:02 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2894821.stm
The Americans may hope they will be welcomed as liberators, and that the Iraqi regime is not popular.
But it is the Americans who are not popular here.
It's a culmination of 12 years of crushing sanctions, two years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in which the United States has been seen as supporting the Israeli side, and because it's widely believed that the US has come to Iraq to steal its oil.
These are of course opinions found in any Arab capital in any Arab country anywhere in the Middle East.
But they are felt in Iraq just the same.
And this is the problem the Americans face.
If it was the Swedish army coming here, the reaction might be different.
If they are angry now, how will they be in 2-4 months when we finally get around to going into Baghdad?
The Americans may hope they will be welcomed as liberators, and that the Iraqi regime is not popular.
But it is the Americans who are not popular here.
It's a culmination of 12 years of crushing sanctions, two years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in which the United States has been seen as supporting the Israeli side, and because it's widely believed that the US has come to Iraq to steal its oil.
These are of course opinions found in any Arab capital in any Arab country anywhere in the Middle East.
But they are felt in Iraq just the same.
And this is the problem the Americans face.
If it was the Swedish army coming here, the reaction might be different.
If they are angry now, how will they be in 2-4 months when we finally get around to going into Baghdad?