Defining the Bad Guys

Along with some really shocking postcards from hell, Aunt Najma, author of A Star from Mosul, has posted a provocative discussion on her Iraqi blog today. She and her father had a conversation trying to determine who these people are who are attacking American and Iraqi forces, blowing things up, and raising all this mayhem. They concluded that there are four different groups responsible for all of the carnage and destruction; Jihadis, criminals, Ba'athis, and vandals.

Interestingly, and this is something I've wondered about since all of this began, her family views the "Jihadis" as earnest Iraqis who are simply trying to expel the invaders from their country. They view them as noble, "Robin Hood" sort of figures who give fair warning to civilians before attacking, not using mosques for military purposes, etc. If this viewpoint is really prevalent around Iraq, we have already lost the battle for the moral high ground.

While they divide them into two groups, they see the criminals and the Ba'athis in a similar light. They are either the prisoners that Saddam released early to throw the area into chaos, or the former members of Saddam's guard and government who are seeking to regain power. The striking part of this, to me at least, is how totally they separate the first category from the last. This is in direct contradiction to our country's publicly state position.

Last, they look at the vandals. This seems to be, in their view, people who are thieves, stealing what they can take, and others simply bent on random destruction and keeping the state of chaos going. Most interestingly in that section is who they list as examples of the "vandals."

The vandals who work for foreign countries (eg. America, Israel, Iran, Kuwait.. Or any other neighboring country): Their only aim is to make a status of horror and untrust, to threat the university teachers, doctors and the other valuable citizens of Iraq to make them go out of Iraq, they might even kill some of them. And to destroy the main power sources of Iraq, like oil pipelines, electricity stations and government's buildings. For example, the assassination of Margaret Hassan, if it's true!!

These are the people we are trying to "liberate" in this mess. The fact that they don't differentiate us from everyone else burning down their nation is a rather chilling message of the real fight we face in Iraq - and it's not just a handful of imported terrorists with RPG's. We've broken a lot more in this country than just their buildings.