Psyche, Science, and Society

Nir Rosen asks us to imagine life under occupation

June 29th, 2006

Nir Rosen, in his new article, The Occupation of Iraqi Hearts and Minds, gives a good sense of the daily brutality of occupation as he relates tale after tale from his mere two weeks embedded with a US unit. After all his experiences in Iraq, Rosen has no trouble believing the Lancet study findings of 100,000 civilians dead (as of September, 2004):

”In 2004 the British medical journal The Lancet estimated that by September 2004 100,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the American occupation and said that most of them had died violently, mostly in American airstrikes. Although this figure was challenged by many, especially partisans of the war, it seems perfectly plausible to me based on what I have seen in Iraq, having spent most of the postwar period there. What I never understood was why more journalists did not focus on this, choosing instead to look for the “good news” and go along with the official story.”

He also gives reason to believe that brutality is a daily occurrence. He also understands that this brutality is not because American soldiers are bad people, but because they have been sent on an evil mission:

”I believe that any journalist who spent even a brief period embedded with American soldiers must have witnessed crimes being committed against innocent Iraqis, so I have always been baffled by how few were reported and how skeptically the Western media treated Arabic reports of such crimes. These crimes were not committed because Americans are bad or malicious; they were intrinsic to the occupation, and even if the Girl Scouts had occupied Iraq they would have resorted to these methods. In the end, it is those who dispatched decent young American men and women to commit crimes who should be held accountable.”

In conclusion, Rosen asks his readers to imagine:

”Imagine. The American occupation of Iraq has lasted over three years. The above stories are based on my two weeks with one unit in a small part of the country. Imagine how many Iraqi homes have been destroyed. How many families have been traumatized. How many men have disappeared into American military vehicles in the night. How many crimes have been committed against the Iraqi people every single day in the course of the normal operations of the occupation, when soldiers were merely doing their duty, when they were not angry or vengeful as in Haditha. Imagine what we have done to the Iraqi people, tortured by Saddam for years, then released from three decades of his bloody rule only to find their hope stolen from them and a new terror unleashed.”

If only more Americans would imagine, instead of simply shaking their head and wishing the war would disappear like a dream upon awakening. To truly imagine is to allow oneself to make contact with a living hell, and with the true horrors that humans are all to capable of imposing upon one another.

Entry Filed under: Iraq, War and Peace