Iraqi Ingratitude--Rahul Majajan at Empire Notes

Tweet "Although he doesn’t talk about it much, this question of Iraqi gratitude has been an idée fixe for Bush. In 2004, as the transition from the Coalition Provisional Authority to the interim Iraqi government was being planned (the so-called “transfer of sovereignty”), according to Paul Bremer’s self-serving memoir, “My Year in Iraq,” Bush’s only consideration in picking the new leaders of Iraq was, "It's important to have someone who's willing to stand up and thank the American people for their sacrifice in liberating Iraq." Ghazi al-Yawer, virtually unknown before and unknown after, was picked as president over senior statesman Adnan Pachachi in part because Bush had "been favorably impressed with his open thanks to the Coalition."

"In a culture with even the slightest ability for introspection or self-reflexivity, of course, such a notion would be monstrous and laughable. After all, the disaster of the occupation is simply the final entry in a list of the worst calamities in modern Iraqi history, all of which involved U.S. backing – the Iran-Iraq war, the near-genocidal Anfal campaign against the Kurds, the savage suppression of the 1991 uprising, the brutally demoralizing sanctions. After all of that, even if the United States “liberation” of Iraqis from Saddam had made Iraq into a new garden of Eden, to claim that the Iraqis should be grateful to the United States would be a bit rich. Given that the occupation is actually a worse calamity than any of those just mentioned and has come closer to destroying the fabric of Iraqi society than all of them put together, the claim boggles the mind.

"Unfortunately, this idea is not just Bush’s insanity; it is bipartisan and it covers most of the American political spectrum. It has emerged as the dominant idea in the public discourse. When Dick Durbin delivered the Democratic response to Bush’s speech about the escalation, a speech even more stomach-churning than Bush’s, this was the core theme: “America has paid a heavy price.” “We have given the Iraqis so much.” “It is time for the Iraqis to stand and defend their own nation.”