Stardate 20030412.1214

(On Screen via long range sensors): Bargarz points to a comment thread which contains the following from Australian Steve Edwards:

...Peaceniks, nitpickers all, are seizing on every cynical remark made to journalists by Iraqi civilians, as if that somehow could justify the anti-war cause. Every time an Iraq civilian states that they would like the US to leave as soon as possible, or that they welcome the US but question their motivations, the peace lobby say "Aha, you see, we were right". This completely misses the point.

What is really happening is that Iraqis are openly debating politics (and even history) without them, their families, their friends, and their friends' pets being cut to pieces. ...

His point is extremely well taken, on two levels: the Iraqis are willing to complain about the US, and they're mentally able to do so. When you see a news report with the following nicely balanced headline:

Baghdad seethes with anger toward U.S.

At first they cheered, smiled, offered hearty thumbs-ups to the U.S. soldiers newly in their midst. But across Iraq's lawless capital, that sentiment is evaporating as quickly as Saddam Hussein's government melted away.

Baghdad was bursting with anti-American feeling Saturday as residents saw their city being stripped by its own citizens while U.S. forces stood by, rarely intervening and in some cases even motioning treasure-laden men through checkpoints.

Some still agreed with the United States' assessment of itself as a liberator. In the middle-class Zayuna neighborhood, friendly people offered American Marines baths, bread and buoyant greetings and asked for both autographs and help against looters.

But for other Iraqis, in dozens of interviews conducted across Baghdad, the assessment was drastically different: America as conqueror.

"The coalition forces are responsible. Where is the law?" said Safa Hussein Qasim, 44, a jeweler. "This is the promise of the United States to Iraq? This is democracy in Baghdad?"

Not only is it deliberately slanted reporting (see this for contrast) but it demonstrates something much deeper, much better.

The Iraqis are willing to criticize us because they know we won't retaliate against them. Their complaints demonstrate a deeper level of confidence in what we are and what we intend.

This kind of criticism is a deeply hopeful sign in another way. For the last decade (at least) any public expression of any sentiment that was in any way less than totally enthusiastic about the current regime could lead to catastrophe not just for the speaker but also for everyone he loved and cared about. One worry was that like a dog beaten too many times, the life and spirit had been driven out of the Iraqi people. In the face of that kind of repression, some people begin to think what they're told to. It isn't just an act; they become what they must to survive. (My fear is that there's a lot of this in North Korea.)

But what we're seeing shows is that it didn't happen in Iraq. They learned what to say in order to survive, but it hadn't reached the point yet of changing what they thought. They were still free, even if only in the privacy of their own minds.

And that is the raw material we'll be working with in order to create a better Iraq for its people.

A lot of the current problems are temporary. The rioting and looting will subside; we'll reestablish order. Medicine and food is coming in, and water and power and other essential services will be coming back online. These are problems, but not insuperable ones. It's just that it's going to take a while. The problems are not being ignored, but they won't be solved in the next day or two.

And on a deeper, more fundamental level things now in Baghdad are already better than they have been for decades.