Culture shock and awe

When I was on the Asia Times website reading up on Burma, I saw an article about how we're alienating the Shia:

It didn't have to be this way. But because of heavy-handedness and cultural insensitivity, the American occupation force has now lost the support of the three key Shi'ite leaders in Iraq - allies through circumstance until now.

The Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani announced last Saturday the issuing of a fatwa against an "illegitimate" constitution "if it is not adopted by an Iraqi government elected by the people". Young cleric Muqtada al-Sadr - whose religious family is highly influential in Iraq - has denounced American "terrorism". And Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, the president of the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) , has said on the record that an Iraqi administration named by American proconsul L Paul Bremer would be "illegal".
...
Saddam's regime vanished on April 9, almost three months ago. Baghdadis have had enough. Power cuts are the norm: homes are deprived of drinking water and air-conditioning with temperatures hovering above 40 degrees Celsius. The Americans blame the cuts on sabotage. Military Humvees with loudspeakers tour the city with the message that electricity will be back "as soon as possible". Baghdadis interpret it otherwise: a wide consensus in the streets is that the Americans are trying to sap the morale of the population, and then tighten their grip.

Iraq is a cauldron of mixed emotions. Although their living conditions are poor, it's fair to say that the majority of Baghdadis don't want the Americans to leave - at least for now: this would be the road to civil war. But they are practically unanimous in their critique of both American inertia - in terms of improving living conditions in the capital - and obsession with their own security: American soldiers only move in convoys and with their hands on the triggers of their M-16s. The outside world can follow daily on television footage of US soldiers frisking Iraqi women through their traditional abbaya. It is arguable that the killings of innocent Iraqi women and children would have been avoided if American soldiers had been taught to speak at least 10 basic words in Arabic - as well as to pay attention to basic religious and cultural norms in the Arab world.

Just like after the war on Afghanistan, the Americans once again have squandered their accumulated capital of good will in Iraq.

How is it we keep "squandering good will" around the world (and how is it we have any left)? Oh yeah, we think we have all the answers and force them upon the world. Damn, we've got to stop doing that. We also have to avoid turning Baghdad into Beirut. Here's how Salam Pax describes the situation at the end of June:

Actually we have been having pretty bad days. If you would have talked to me a week ago and I would have told you that I am very optimistic; maybe not optimistic but at least had hope. Now I can only think of two things. One of them was something my mother said while watching the news. She was watching something about the latest attacks on the "coalition forces" and their retaliation. She said that she has always wondered how people in Beirut and Jerusalem could have led any sort of lives, when their cities were practically military zones, she said she now knows how it feels to live in a city were the sight of a tank and military checkpoints asking you to get out your car and look thru your bag becomes "normal". When you turn on the TV and just hope that you don’t see more pictures of people shooting at each other.

Meanwhile, another solider was critically wounded today:

An American soldier was shot in the head as he waited in line to buy a soft drink at Baghdad University on Sunday, while U.S. forces killed two insurgents who charged an army post in a truck, firing a rocket-propelled grenade.

The soldier was shot at close range at about midday, witnesses said. He was evacuated to a military hospital, where he was in critical condition, said Army Maj. William Thurmond, a U.S. military spokesman.

Our troops are being killed and wounded daily, life is miserable for Iraqis, and we're losing their support. Didn't we say this exactly what would happen? I wish we'd been wrong.

ntodd

[Update, 5:41PM: Reuters reports U.S. Soldier Dies from Gunshot Wound in Iraq. Damn it.]  ¶ 1:18 PM