Johann Hari, a writer for the Independent in London, was close to many Iraqi exiles – refugees from the Baath dictatorship – and was worried when they went back home at the end of the war this spring. But many have just returned for a brief visit to London and have been reporting what they found. His worst fears dissipated when he first saw them in his apartment, “beaming and speaking at a hundred words a minute.” They’re the younger generation and had gone back specifically to engage students and the younger generations:
First, they wanted to establish debating societies and newsletters in the Baghdad universities. “These are going to be the seeds of democracy,” Yasser explains. “Once you learn to argue against people instead of killing them as Saddam did, you’re on your way. We explained to the university students that they could have different newspapers – and even have different opinions in the same newspapers – and it seemed totally surreal to them. They just couldn’t understand it. But when they realised that it really was possible and nobody was going to punish them, they were so excited that they were just obsessed. They were in the middle of their exams and supposed to be studying, but they insisted on writing and photocopying a newsletter that they distributed everywhere. They wrote articles on amazing things they could find out about on the internet – philosophy and art and the difference between proportional representation and first-past-the-post! It was the best thing in my life, seeing that,” Yasser says.
Thrilling, no? Like the fact that Iraq-Today.com explains why it’s written in English: they now have almost 200 competing outlets in Baghdad and beyond. So where’s the catch? The electricity problems, yes. Security, yes. But this most of all:
There is a terrible fear among many Iraqis that they will not be able to match the Kurds’ achievement if they are abandoned by the Americans once again. “The memories of 1991 are so vivid,” says Sama. “People still fear that somehow the Americans will abandon us and Saddam will claw his way back from the grave. They say, `It happened in 1991, it could happen again.’ That’s one crucial reason why people are reluctant to cooperate with the coalition.” She adds: “I find it absolutely incredible that the anti-war people are now calling for the coalition to leave straight away. Nobody in Iraq wants that. The opinion polls show it’s just 13 per cent. Don’t they care about the Iraqi people and what they want at all? This isn’t a game. This isn’t about poking a stick at George Bush. This is our lives.”
Yes. But many on the Western left couldn’t give a damn about the lives of Iraqis. If they had, they would have supported the war, wouldn’t they?
The Dish 