12 April

By Daniel Kimmage

Saudi Arabia's "Al-Riyadh": Abdallah Al-Qaffari argues that recent looting in Iraq should not be misinterpreted as specific to Iraqi society.

     "In Al-Basrah and Baghdad, which British and American troops entered only a few days ago, we have seen some Iraqis looting the institutions of the Iraqi state that were left unguarded when government or Ba'ath Party officials fled. It was a sad and painful sight, symbolic proof of the people's subconscious readiness for self-flagellation and vengeance. This was merely a convenient opportunity to escape from obedience to the state with no real constraints to prevent theft, or even murder. It is hardly a characteristic specific to the mob, or the impoverished, in Iraq. Conscience is lost, morals are distorted. It is a human characteristic -- the law of the jungle -- that appears even in such advanced societies as America. Do you remember the uprising of black [Americans] in Los Angeles several years ago, with its rioting and looting of stores, markets, and possessions?"

Britain's "Al-Quds Al-Arabi": Muhammad Abd al-Hakam Diyab claims that the Iraqis who welcomed U.S. troops represent marginal elements in society.

     A careful examination of the pictures broadcast by Western networks shows that the majority of those who came out were from the margins of society -- groups and elements that are present in Iraqi society just as they are present in other Arab and non-Arab societies. Such groups and elements grow in size with the outbreak of war, the spread of poverty, and a decline in the standard of living. We find similar phenomena in Egyptian slums and the shantytowns that surround many Arab cities and capitals. They are home to street vendors, beggars, bandits, and pickpockets. These marginal groups also include workers and low-level officials, the unemployed who surge toward the city from rural areas. Deviancy, extremism, and pandering thrive in their midst. Gangs and fugitives from justice hide among them. And this does not even include the groups the invaders brought with them to Baghdad to carry out such tasks."

Britain's "Al-Hayat": Hazim Saghiyyah writes that the Arab world has created a cult of "muqawama" (resistance) that he terms "muqawamania," and that this cult motivated the Arabs who traveled to Iraqi to fight.

     "...The 'Arabs' saw in Iraq only an 'issue.' They failed to see Iraq itself because they don't see the world as composed of countries and peoples. On the contrary, they took the opportunity to demonstrate once again that they suffer from the disease of 'muqawama' -- Muqawamania.

     "First, there is 'the Arab resistance.' It is, in fact, Arab; that is, not Iraqi. It is Arab in the sense that it is not connected to any single country. It is everything, and it is nothing. It is resistance that stems from a mixture of delusion...and commerce: ideological delusion and commerce by regimes, parties, and 'personalities' that traffic in resistance and issues. These resistance fighters are the victims both of delusion and commerce. They also repeat the experience of 'Iraqi assistance' in 1941 and the 'Army of Salvation' in 1948. They remind us, if in a more narrow context, of the 'Afghan Arabs,' who were more Islamic than the Taliban and the Afghans themselves. These 'Iraqi Arabs' are far more Arab than the Iraqis. The Iraqis are Iraqis. These others are...Arabs? It is no coincidence that they are not Iraqi, for the call for resistance is informed by an agenda that is not Iraqi, by a spirit that belongs to no specific place."