Strange Reactions

All of the "experts" who rushed to say that killing Saddam Hussein's two sons would discourage American attackers were immediately refuted when two more ambushes killed two more Americans the day after the raid.

I support the troops, but I'm continually appalled by the unrealistic assessments and reactions of the top brass and politicos in Washington. They seem cut adrift from reality. If three men and a boy can fight off 200 American soldiers backed by helicopters and TOW missiles for six hours, I wouldn't brag about it being a successful operation.

According to Central Command, the three adults were killed first, and the 14-year-old grandson of Saddam Hussein continued to fight to the death. His grandpa will be proud of him.

Odai and Qusai, Saddam's murderous sons, had been in the house for 23 days, one witness claimed, before a walk-in looking for a reward tipped off the United States. That is not a triumph of American intelligence. It is just good luck. If our luck holds, somebody will eventually drop a dime on Saddam, and he, too, will die fighting.

The problem is, the deaths of his two sons are really insignificant. They've been out of power, and out of power, they were just thugs on the run. They've had nothing to do with the attacks on Americans. And neither has Saddam. He, too, is just an out-of-power thug on the run. When he's finally killed, his death won't matter either.

The power of all three of these men rested in their command and control of forces. They lost that the day they went on the run. They've had no means to communicate, no means to enforce any orders and no troops to command. The occasional audiotapes from Saddam are just an old man's delusions. It's clear from how quickly his regime collapsed that he's been deluded for quite some time.

Trying to blame the attacks on Americans on Saddam is an attempt to deny the reality that plenty of Iraqis resent and are resisting American occupation. Use common sense. About 10 percent of the Iraqi population was in the leadership of the Baath Party. That's about 2.5 million people. They've been put out of work and told that they are out of a future as well. They don't need any orders from Saddam to kill people they hate. And they hate us for the logical reason that we have ruined their lives. Still more Iraqis, for purely nationalistic reasons, don't like the idea of their country being occupied by foreigners.

Another unrealistic claim on the part of the politicians is that it is only fear of Saddam's return that is keeping Iraqis from dancing in the streets and cooperating with Americans. Bull. People who put out that excuse are victims of believing our own propaganda. With 145,000 troops in place and a devastated country, no Iraqi believes Saddam will ever return to power. What they fear, if anything, is retribution from Iraqi resisters of the occupation. Saddam is no longer an issue. The American occupation is now the issue. What we call cooperation, many Iraqis will call collaboration.

Southerners of the 19th century are the only Americans who have ever suffered defeat and military occupation by a conquering army. Consequently, today's Americans have no idea what an appalling experience that is. Nobody on earth likes the idea of being at the mercy of a foreign army that has conquered their country — even if they did hate their own government.

The good news is that most Iraqis long to return to a normal life. The bad news is that until the day the last American soldier departs the country, some Iraqis will hate us just for being there.

One small piece of advice for better understanding of the world is to realize that the rest of the world does not see us as we see ourselves. We see ourselves as the good guys. Not everyone agrees.

Another piece of advice is to recognize that the American news media, especially television, sanitize our news. Thus Americans don't have to see the carnage our policies sometimes create. I doubt if one out of 50 Americans is even aware that Amnesty International has condemned the American occupation forces for human-rights abuses.