Chrenkoff interviews Aurthur Vincent

I'm back from some travel to the northeast and able to catch up on the blog universe. Arthur Chrenkoff is adding interviews to his already feature-rich site. The inaugural interview is with Stephen Vincent, author of a new book based on his recent travels through Iraq. Unlike most journalists in the country, Vincent was not there to cover the military activity. He spent his time with the Iraqi people and is trying to tell their story, a story that is until now largely untold.

He has a particularly vivid way of describing the current emotional state of the Iraqi people.

Imagine children whose father physically and emotionally abused them for years. Now imagine that the authorities jail the father and tell the children they're free to live their own lives. Theoretically, they are free, but the traumas of their past will still haunt them, limiting and afflicting their freedom. That's the condition of most Iraqis. As if that weren't bad enough, add in the regressive pull of tribalism and reactionary Islam, and you have a very bleak psychic picture indeed.

How will Iraqis overcome this legacy? It will begin with time and a slow restoration of their sense of nationhood, citizenship and even personal self-esteem. Victories will help: curbing terrorism, managing a successful election, writing a Constitution, building a strong economy. In this way, the Iraqis can work through the humiliation and trauma of being raped by Saddam.

Refreshingly, Vincent is able to discuss the failures of our Iraq policy in an unusually calm and evenhanded manner. Reports that are clear and open-eyed without becoming anti-administration polemics are going to be very important if we are to see Iraq through to successful democratization and peace. Like many other observers, Vincent feels that American planners underestimated the need for military police and other trained law-enforcement personnel after the country was taken. What's refreshing is that he does not focus on assigning blame, which is irrelevant at this stage, but keeps his sights on the much more important and relevant effect that the widespread looting and lawlessness has had on the ordinary Iraqi citizens.

I can't stress how disastrous and demoralizing the pillaging of Baghdad was to Iraq. Not only did it damage the country's infrastructure and destroy many buildings, it weakened Iraqi faith in the U.S. Imagine if your police department suddenly stopped pursuing criminals - how much respect would you have for them? I remember an Iraqi man clutching my arm and pleading, "If you're going to occupy our country, occupy it!"

Do read Arthur's interview and, as he suggests, check out Vincent's new new blog. There is much additional fine material at both locations. I'll just provide you with one additional "prize" quote.

I will say this: what we can do as free people is support the Iraqi resistance. By that I mean the people fighting the paramilitary death squads: the Iraqi police, National Guard troops, politicians, judges, bureaucrats, businesspeople and every last person who votes on January 30. They are the true "resistance." ...Grasp a sobering thought: the fate of the Iraqi people is in our hands - and, for better or worse, ours is in theirs.

This is a wonderfully astute insight. By far the "easiest" thing for the Iraqis to do is to fall back into old habits. Tribalism, violent religious conflict, disregard for the rule of law, and brutality towards opponents have been standard operating procedure in Iraq for decades. Some of these "old habits" go back and for millennia. Efforts to create a democratic society out of totalitarianism, a lawful society out of lawlessness, and a multicultural and multifaith society out of tribalism, is far more difficult and dangerous than any comfortable American can fully appreciate. One way we can rebuild Iraqi pride and counter the "humiliation and trauma" Vincent has described, and also counter European claims of American arrogance, is to recognize the extraordinary heroics of these people who were fighting for freedom against very real and personal dangers. Americans are not the only heroes of democracy in the world nor should we want to be. The noble fight that earlier generations of Americans took up has moved to other battlefields, but it is still the same fight. As Vincent points out, the future of freedom worldwide, including here in America, is very much in the hands of some brave "resistance fighters" in Iraq.