Wednesday, July 7, 2004

Emergency powers

From the Jerusalem Post:

. . .

The much-anticipated Order of Safeguarding National Security grants Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi that iron fist to crack down on insurgents and virtually anybody else deemed dangerous to the stability of Iraq.

. . .

But if stability is in the offing, Iraqis don't seem to mind a bit. "Of course this is the right decision," said Ivan Hermiz Hana from his ice-cream shop in the upscale Zeiyuna neighborhood. "All Arab countries need to maintain control of their people."

Voicing what has become conventional wisdom in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's ouster, Hana believed that too much freedom, for Iraqis at least, is a bad thing. "Freedom is good, but give it to us slowly-slowly," reasoned the 23-year-old, a member of Iraq's Christian minority.

. . .


But weren't these the people who were supposed to be so beside themselves with joy at the arrival of 3rd Infantry Division, they would do whatever we told them? Are these the people who would embrace democracy and freedom and welcome the American system of governance? For two generations, these people have been under the iron-fisted rule of Saddam Hussein. They do not know any different. Turning them loose after so many years of oppression begat anarchy. Our military is finding that out now.

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