[Marxism] Patrick Graham: a year with the resistance

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Even for many outspoken critics of US occupation of the war in Iraq, the 
insurgents are seen as being little better than the Taliban. Journalists 
like Marc Cooper, Christian Parenti et al find little good or inspiring 
about their resistance. As I have mentioned on these mailing lists in 
the past, I regard Harpers to be the finest magazine in the USA by far. 
Last June there was a long article by Patrick Graham titled "Beyond 
Fallujah: A Year With the Resistance" that was far too long to scan in 
and post to Marxmail and pen-l. Fortunately, it is now online at: 
http://www.harpers.org/BeyondFallujah.html. It is a *must* read. From 
the brief excerpt below, it should be clear that the Iraqi insurgents 
are decent people fighting for their liberation. Questions about 
beheading, suicide bombs, etc. are all well and good, but have to be 
placed into their proper context. Until there is a unified political 
command that can take responsibility for what happens on the ground, we 
in the West will have to sort through the news about the ongoing 
conflict and make judgements just as we would about any struggle. From 
that standpoint, it should inspire us that people like Mohammed are out 
there fighting for a new Iraq.

---

Mohammed pointed out another base, a former British military airport 
built in the 1920s. It, too, was a target. Beside the base were the 
houses of a village still known as Coolie Camp, built for Indian workers 
brought in by the British. From where we stood, he counted five targets 
that the resistance was planning to attack.

"Did you see Braveheart?" he asked me. "They throw out the British and 
the corrupt nobles. It is about hope. The people in the movie want 
freedom, and so do we. In the movie, the problems start because the 
British invaded and take the beautiful women and hurt the people. 
Because of the hard times, they gather weapons and get rid of the spies 
and traitors, isn't that right?"

Mel Gibson's movie had struck a chord with Mohammed on a number of 
levels. Not only did his own grandfather fight against the British but, 
like the Scottish nobles in Braveheart, many of the area's important 
sheikhs worked with the British occupiers. (The same families, Mohammed 
said, were now working with the Americans.) Mohammed referred to Western 
culture and history as frequently as he did to the Koran. At times he 
sounded like a seventies European student radical, someone who might 
have joined the Red Brigade.

"We think of Vietnam and look at the modern history of the United 
States, which is not very good," he said. "Why do they call us the Third 
World? Why do they look down on us? . . . Justice is the basis of 
ruling, and Saddam forgot this. We expect the fall of the American 
empire, because they do not follow justice in the world."

Until American soldiers stopped interacting with Iraqis on the streets 
of Fallujah and Ramadi, Mohammed would stop and talk to them. In part, 
he did this to check out their weapons, but he was curious too. One 
soldier showed him a picture of his family and said: "I miss them so 
much. I want to leave your country right now, but my government won't 
let me." Once, to a black soldier guarding a tank, he said, "Hey, 
Negro." After the man became angry, Mohammed explained to him that it 
was what he thought white men called blacks in the movies.

"I wanted him to feel that it was not his fault—it is the white man," 
Mohammed told me. "I wanted him to think about his African roots.

full: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1118-33.htm

--

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