An Iraqi perspective

Today Mahdy Ali Lafta is the head of the Iraqi Teacher's Union, an educational activist. His story provides an interesting glimpse of how an Iraqi views the transformation of Iraq. Also interesting is that this article is from the Guardian, a British newspaper that isn't exactly known for reporting good news from Iraq. The article ends:

Which brings us to a difficult question. Is Iraq better now than under Saddam? "Certainly," replies Mr Lafta. "But the people of Iraq did not want the war. Which nation would want to see itself occupied with no sovereignty or freedom? But it was Saddam who brought this upon us.

"The Iraqis should not be made victims again by the occupation. Iraq has become a subject of international debate. It is open to the world to see. We fought Saddam Hussein and many died, now we want to build our nation. Where better to start but with our schools and universities? We need solidarity for that."

He pauses, then adds: "We should focus on the good news too. The heroic acts of the civil society, of men and women who work hard and sometimes pay the highest price. Of the teachers who continued to teach through those years, and those who want to help rebuild the country now. That's worth telling."

Before our interview Mr Lafta had wandered around an exhibition of Spitting Image puppets in the Guardian's newsroom. He was transfixed by the image of Saddam, grotesquely out of proportion and all the more recognisable for it, nestled among sketches of Lady Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Osama Bin Laden.

Reflecting on it, Mr Lafta shivers. "He's the beast, and even an insult to the beast doesn't destroy the fear of that beast. I look at that and I think of mass graves and atrocities and for me, someone who loves teaching, I think of the damage to education."

"All those feelings, but I also feel happy that he can be depicted like that. That it's allowed. The rest look like saints compared with him."

I can't help but wonder why the U.S. liberals have so much trouble with stories like this. Some that I have spoken with seem to be focused on the fact that it was a war (spoken in tones that imply the obvious evil of it) that brought this good thing, so therefore it cannot possibly be justified. Others seem to be focused on the fact that these stories repudiate firmly held liberal beliefs and make some conservative positions look, well, good and effective — and therefore these stories must either be false or else examples of the shining exceptions plucked out of the muck by conservatives. What puzzles me most of all is that this denial, the liberal averting of the eyes, takes place no matter how credible the source of the information.

There are a few exceptions to this, of course. Some liberals have, however reluctantly, been recognizing that through some mysterious means they don't understand the American policies, led by President Bush, have accomplished some very good things indeed. But I'd feel a lot more comfortable about the sanity of my liberal countrymen if this was a more common reaction than it is...

A tip 'o the hat to Chrenkoff for the pointer to this story...