Take a Deep Breath Here
Remember the Jenin Massacre? Jeningrad – you know – where, in 2002, the IDF killed more than 500 defenseless Palestinians, mainly women and children? How could you forget? All the important newspapers ran headlines about mass graves and carpet-bombing; Jenin was destroyed. A reporter on a reputable American paper called Jenin a “bone yard,” and a British reporter wrote, “Rarely, in more than a decade of war reporting from Bosnia, Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, have I seen such deliberate destruction, such disrespect for human life.”
Remember the Jenin Massacre? Jeningrad – you know – where, in 2002, the IDF killed more than 500 defenseless Palestinians, mainly women and children? How could you forget? All the important newspapers ran headlines about mass graves and carpet-bombing; Jenin was destroyed. A reporter on a reputable American paper called Jenin a “bone yard,” and a British reporter wrote, “Rarely, in more than a decade of war reporting from Bosnia, Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, have I seen such deliberate destruction, such disrespect for human life.”
Oh, no – wait. The subsequent UN investigation (hardly Israel’s friend in this) discovered that, in fact, 56 Palestinians, mainly men between 20 and 45, died in battles that claimed 23 IDF soldiers – 13 of whom were lured into a booby trap by a little boy.
So, after the bombing of an important Shiite mosque in Iraq two weeks ago, it was not surprising that violence convulsed the country from the Kurdish areas of the north to Basra in the south; 1,300 people were killed (Washington Post, 28 Feb.); and hundreds of mosques were burned to the ground in what the cognoscenti called the beginning of Iraq’s civil war. Immediately thereupon, a Washington Post-ABC News poll asked Americans whether they believed civil war was likely in Iraq (80 percent said yes).
Oh, no – wait, again. In fact, after the mosque bombing, sporadic violence flared mainly in Baghdad and Basra. Some 300 people were killed (Knight Ridder, 2 March). Fewer than 25 mosques were attacked; six suffered significant damage. City government councils in Baghdad and Basra and key Shiite leaders, including Muqtada Sadr, called for calm. Dozens of peaceful demonstrations occurred around the country – only three of which apparently became violent. Iraq’s political leaders dispatched Iraqi police and security forces to the streets. And, most amazingly, the Iraqis handled the violence and did not split along sectarian lines or join the troublemakers.
Syndicated columnist Ralph Peters wrote from Baghdad: ” I’m trying. I’ve been trying all week. The other day, I drove another 30 miles or so on the streets and alleys of Baghdad. I’m looking for the civil war that The New York Times declared. And I just can’t find it. Maybe actually being on the ground in Iraq prevents me from seeing it. Perhaps the view’s clearer from Manhattan… Instead of a civil war, something very different happened because of the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra. The fanatic attempt to stir up Sunni-vs.-Shia strife, and the subsequent spate of violent attacks, caused popular support for the U.S. presence to spike upward.”
This is not to minimize the precipice upon which Iraqi society stands, nor the potential for continued murder and mayhem. The outcome of the experiment in civil-society-building remains unclear, although it is clear that most of the violence was of the bomb-throwing-in-the-marketplace variety, a sure sign of the weakness of the insurgents, not their strength. It is to suggest that both American politicians and consumers of 24-hour news channels take a deep breath before making policy or answering polls respectively.