worst : culture : DO YOU BELIEVE WHAT THE MEDIA TELLS YOU ABOUT IRAQ OR DO YOU ACTUALLY ASK A SERVICE MEMBER WHAT IS GOING ON THERE TO GET A BETTER VIEWPOINT? [+] serious ballot by jappy ACTIVE Fri Dec 16, 05 - Wed Sep 10, 08 This is something a lot of people should really think about, especially a few of the idiot senators/congressmen who seem to have a completely ignorant viewpoint of what is happening here. Before I start, let me tell you what we do, day after day we escort Iraqi workers in the area we are in, from 0700 in the morning till sometimes nearly 1900 at night, we talk at great length about politics, religion, history, many topics. And yes, I know, 2 of those topics are SUPPOSED to be off limits, but conversation almost always ends up back on those topics, and it's good conversation, we don't really have arguments about anything. The Iraqi people are absolutely amazing, they are dynamic, intelligent, very hard working, family oriented (VERY family oriented, even in the work place), and proud. Rightfully so that they are proud, something a lot of westerners do not realize is that Iraq has at times thoughout history been the most powerful civilization on the planet, from the earliest known civilization of Ur, to the Sumerians, to the Babylonians, and others. So rightfully so they are very proud of their culture, and with the right government they can easily achieve status today. Let me give you what I SEE from being here the last couple of months: The VAST majority of Iraqi people realize the need for having American and other coalition soldiers here, to help stabilize things until they can get up on their own feet. The media loves to ask misleading questions, like rather than ask the public if they NEED Americans here, they ask a completely preposterous question like "Do you like having American soldiers here?", which has an obvious answer, because they don't LIKE having us here even if they understand the reason for us being here, no more than WE like BEING here. The main people running the insurgency are the former ruling party, the Baa-th party members. From what the local Iraqi's tell us (who are mostly Shiite, some Sunni), most of the Sunni are willing to try and work with the Shiites, they are just scared to death of repercussions by the Shiites for the oppressive rule of Saddam. They say that Baa-th party members though, are completely against the new government, not because it's a puppet government of the United States, but because they don't have any power, and they shouldn't, Baa-th members make up such a small minority of the overall background of Iraq, they will never again have the power they once had. So they continue to brainwash the youth to do car bombs and suicide bombs, or pay people to lay out explosives beside the road to try and kill coalition troops. It is not even remotely the majority of Iraqi's that support the insurgency. If you ask a local here, they will tell you that 95% of the people of Iraq would never support that, perhaps even a higher percentage, because all they seem to end up doing is killing innocent Iraqi's now. The reason for this, is that even when you hear about these people being killed one day, or some killed another day, there were MORE people dying under Saddam every day during his regime. Also, this idea that "100,000 innocent Iraqi's have died due to American Forces..." is crazy, and THAT is from comments by Iraqis. Ali, an engineer we work with, wondered why it is that the total number of deaths attributed to this 'war' includes the civilians killed by suicide bombers and other insurgency methods. I hadn't thought of that before, but he's right. It's amazing to see how all the workers will race to the nearest radio on the hour to hear the newest developments from the Saddam trial, or to watch an Iraqi, a grown man, break down and cry if you ask him about his thoughts on Saddam. I asked a man, a Nazarene, who had just spent 10 years in Germany because he was exiled by Saddam, about what Saddam had done under his rule, and this was his response, "How many days do you have" he said slowly, thoughtfully, days to listen to him talk about the many many horrible things that Saddam had done. The sadness you will see on someone's face when they talk about loved ones that they TO THIS DAY have never seen again, THAT is why I know what we are doing is right. FXCK weapons of mass destruction, okay? And sorry, but not even 9/11 compares to this, Americans who talk about how '9/11 has nothing to do with Iraq', you should realize how selfish you look to Iraqi people who went thru that sort of hell EVERY DAY for more than 30 years under Saddam, and now have the chance for a representative government, where their voice matters. I've said a lot more here than I started off intending to, but I think you get my point. The media makes it's money through controversy, and there isn't much controversy when you show an American soldier giving a child a soda, or candy, or digging trenches to install sewage pipes for a town that has never had a sewer system... there are literally a thousand stories like this for every bad thing you hear about. The media needs 'the bad' to sell it's papers, to keep people watching it's 24 hour news stations. Imagine how devastating it was for them that the elections here were so quiet and successful? That had to suck for them. So, does it not make a little more sense to talk to a servicemember than to someone from the media about what really happens over here??? Yes, a service member has a better viewpoint No, I still trust the media more I trust Iraqis more I try to listen to every side possible I do my own research Ballot #84642 : SEE RESULTS Comment: show your vote with comment?

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