Think welfare state in the extreme. Thus, when coalition forces ousted Saddam, a void replaced him. How now to conduct life? Iraqis are learning freedom - and the personal responsibilities inherent therein - one day at a time. Men may yearn to be free, as Bush often puts it, but a populace accustomed to a nanny state, particularly one so malevolent, needs time to mature before embracing full autonomy.
Staff Sgt. Dan Lostotter, an Army intelligence analyst in Baghdad, explained in an e-mail that many Iraqis expected coalition forces to do everything for them. Such had been their experience, after all.
Instead, says Lostotter, "We hand the problem back and explain how they can solve it themselves. We are winning this 'clash of cultures,' but in a SASO (Stability and Support Operations) environment, it is sometimes hard to measure."
Lostotter sent me the first five issues of a relatively new public-affairs publication, "Eye on Iraq," that is distributed to the media and to military personnel in Iraq. These are strictly "good news" items of the "plane lands safely" variety. Non-news, in other words, if you're an American reporter.
The issue dated Nov. 27-Dec. 3, for example, features summaries and photos of: Iraqi National Guard soldiers practicing new search-and-seizure techniques, students at a secondary girl's school with new school bags filled with supplies, and an Iraqi municipal council meeting where members were briefed on various projects.
For most reporters, these are the sort of photo-ops - the news equivalent of ribbon-cuttings - that cause spontaneous eye rolling. The U.S. media don't cover ribbon cuttings, which are routine and matter only to those commemorating the moment.
To the Omars, Mohammeds and Alis of the world, however, ribbon-cuttings and grand openings and new book bags and town meetings are of a different species. They're the first stirrings of a newly birthed nation imbued with the soul of democracy.
In an Iraq of mass graves, suicide bombings and terrorists, that's big news.
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