# The War in Iraq: An Arab Perspective **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-war-in-iraq-an-arab-perspective/168038 "2003-04-11T14:37:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-war-in-iraq-an-arab-perspective/168038/1 "2003-04-11T14:37:06Z")
Background: I have a friend/colleague that I worked with in Saudi Arabia. He was born in Jordan, of exiled Palestinian parents. His family has a successful business in Jordan, he and his wife both attended University in the United States (an SEC school), and he is successful in a well paying job with a US International company. He helped teach me much more about Islam and his part of the world on my few business trips to KSA. Occasionally he sends me jokes and other things in e-mail, and we have had some discussions on the different world views of different places. Since the pictures of jubilant Iraqis celebrating the downfall of Saddam, I decided to ask for his opinion on what has transpired and how it is viewed in his part of the world. What follows is his unedited response: > [@](#): > > People I have talked were all in a state of shock & disappointment. The majority were wishing for & expecting fierce fighting in Baghdad. Frankly many people did not expect Saddam to win the war, but wanted him to teach the US & UK a very tough lesson. Many Iraqi’s are probably happy with the outcome, but most of them have mixed feelings. While they are happy that Saddam is gone, they did not want the US to be the savior, or the invader as many call it. > > I think that the CIA made a deal with Saddam for fairly no resistance in Baghdad in return for a safe haven some where else in the world. > > People here think of US & the British as invaders, not liberators as they do not trust the US. People do not support Saddam because they like him, but because people merely hate the US for its policies in the region & poliicies that is viewed here as clearly against Arabs & Muslims. Following are the reasons in my opinion. > [ul] > [li]The double standards that the US is clearly demonstrating - Israel is killing Palestinians like crazy when the US is very passive & yet GWB labels Sharon as a man of peace. Arab countries are ruled by dictators with the support of the US. US does not want democratic regimes in the Arab world because it thinks that it will be against its own interest. A democratic regime, elected by the people, might also be a threat to Israel. Israel possesses the world’s deadliest weapons & refuses to sign treaties with the support of the US.[/li] > [li]The US hidden agenda - the vast majority of people here do not trust the US government. Iraq does not possess any WMD otherwise, Saddam would have definitely used it. No doubt US invaded, not liberated, Iraq for oil & as protection to Israel. Or yet even the expansion of Israel. People think that the occupation of Iraq, is just the first step of executing more plans in order to protect its own & Israel’ s interest in the region in the name of democratizing the Arab world.[/li][/ul] > > People here are more frustrated than ever & carry more hatred than ever towards Americans. Unfortunately, most of the people do not differentiate between the Americans & the American government. They think of them both as the same evil. Am afraid that more & more people will start to adopt exreme views like UBL’s. > > Unfortunately, people do not see a brighter future for the region even after Saddam. They think that it will be worse as the US will try to further weaken & divide the Arab & Muslim world. I am sure that many Americans as well understand the real picture and are opposed to the US policies in the region. > Whil, I wanted to convey to you an honest picture of how the majority of the people in the Arab & Muslim world look at the current circumstances, I just hope that will not offended. > > You can also visit this web site: [www.foreigncorrespondent.com](http://www.foreigncorrespondent.com) for Eric Margolis which I think that he shows very objective POV & picture of matters related to the middle east. I put this here so that others might see how an educated, successful person, purely through circumstances of birth and world perspective, might see world events through an entirely different prism than their own. My objective is not to debate or defend my friend’s viewpoint. But to share how the filter of perspective can change the resultant view. ---
**Author:** ![GKW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@GKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GKW)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-war-in-iraq-an-arab-perspective/168038/2 "2003-04-11T15:13:21Z")
> [@](#): > > I think that the CIA made a deal with Saddam for fairly no resistance in Baghdad in return for a safe haven some where else in the world. I found this interesting because several of the Iranians that I have met also seem to attribute this kind of omniscient power to the CIA, whereas I always felt they were generally inept, screw-ups. As for the rest of the e-mail, it seems to be in line with what many of the people here are thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-war-in-iraq-an-arab-perspective/168038/3 "2003-04-11T15:27:04Z")
Today’s Washington Post had something similar to this: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5531-2003Apr10.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5531-2003Apr10.html) I have trouble crediting the whole CIA notion and think it’ll be busted when and if US armed forces track down Hussein. More than wanting him out the administration wants him tried for war crimes so he can be discredited. At least in the west, I suppose. But it’s clear to me that there’s a large freight of doubt that the United States will have to overcome to gain credibility in the region. Here’s hoping we live up to our ideals this time. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-war-in-iraq-an-arab-perspective/168038/4 "2003-04-11T15:27:42Z")
And where is here **GKW**? ---
**Author:** ![ShadiRoxan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@ShadiRoxan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadiRoxan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-war-in-iraq-an-arab-perspective/168038/5 "2003-04-11T15:34:47Z")
i was talking to my mother the other night. she was listening to persian radio on bbc. she said it reminded her of when the shah fell. she told me of one incident that happened. my cousins were at my grandmother’s house when gunfire started going off. the side of the house was covering by bullet holes. the only thing they could do was get on the floor and cover my cousins’ ears. they were screaming. neither of them talk about their lives in iran to this day. they were fairly young when they left, but old enough to remember things (nine and twelve). there’s a lot more to a war then what is televised. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-war-in-iraq-an-arab-perspective/168038/6 "2003-04-11T21:25:41Z")
I think the problem is that your friend, like most Muslims in the region see the world through state-run glasses. Lets face it, most of these countries are run by dictatorships and shiekdoms that talk out of both sides of their ass in order to apease their American oil customers while keeping their people ignorant and misinformed. Lets see if I get this right: -Israel is the worst -USA is the Great Satan (while at the same time manages to be a puppet of Israel) -Anything attrocity committed by Muslims (like 9/11) is an Israeli/CIA trick -Any good performed in the world (like liberating Iraq from Sadam) is also a CIA trick -The US is only interested in the Middle East for its oil (I agree with this one, if it wasn’t for oil, we would care about as Iraq about as much as we care about the Congo) -The USA is immoral (because keeping women illiterate, forcing them to dress in Burqas, stoning people, and telling them what to do and not to do is infinitely better) -The USA is a weak paper tiger (Sometimes true unless you provoke us, in which case we will unleash a hurt on you like you could never dream of) -Intentionally killing 2000+ innocent people is “not right, but understandable” if it is a pointless act of Muslim defiance (like 9/11) however accidently mistaking a family of seven for a suicide bomber when they run a checkpoint in a war zone is the worst of attrocities. -The West is evil because we take all the Arab oil and give nothing in return (and yet no one asks where Shiek Al-Whoever gets his mansion, yacht and 35 Mercedez Benzes from) Oh yeah **ShibbOleth**. Real fair and balanced (and accurate) reporting. [http://www.foreigncorrespondent.com/archive/bush\_parade.html](http://www.foreigncorrespondent.com/archive/bush_parade.html) "The opening weeks of the Second Oil War against Iraq - aka Operation Iraq Freedom - produced the advertised ‘shock and awe’ all right, but it came in Washington rather than bomb-blasted Baghdad. The immediate uprisings against Great Satan Saddam, the quick, almost effortless ‘liberation’ of Iraq, and the joyous reception by grateful Iraqis promised by the neo-conservatives who misled America into this increasingly ugly war have been exposed as a farrago of lies or distortions. " ## GKW quote: ## I found this interesting because several of the Iranians that I have met also seem to attribute this kind of omniscient power to the CIA, whereas I always felt they were generally inept, screw-ups. That’s because, if they are doing their job right, you should never hear about their successes at all.