Winning the Hearts and Minds

In an effort to bring everyone together for a unified, democratic Iraq, today we apparently raided a Sunni Mosque on their holy day as people were leaving services. Several were dead and another 40 detained. No weapons or explosives or other dangerous items were recovered, but our troops did manage to recover "a computer and books, including a Quran." This prompted some predictable responses in the blogosphere.

Steve Gillard gives some wry commentary, saying "Yes, storming a mosque after Friday prayers is ....genius."


Over at Captain's Quarters, it's no surprise that the Bush fanatics feel that attacking Muslims while they attend mass on Friday is "a welcome development."

Here's the part that Capt. Ed doesn't get and never will. The end goal, if you are to ever believe anything that the Bush administration says, is to establish a stable democracy in Iraq. Right? This Ameri-centric, anti-Muslim attitude is going to get more troops on our side killed. Muslim society is extremely different to start with. Then, you need to look at the type of soil that the roots of democracy are able to make a start in. Iraq is severely lacking in this area.

Democracies start in countries with a large, productive, well educated middle class that sees itself as a solid force against outside influences and stands together. They also tend to be highly secular and rebel against religious rules holding them in virtual chains.

The Sunni folks are already deeply suspicious of any "election" that will just allow a Shiite majority to elect their own into power. The Kurds are just waiting for us to leave so they can have their own state. The one thing these people have in common, which already puts a potential democracy in jeopardy, is their faith in their respective clerics. When the Americans go in and bust up a church meeting on their holy day, you drive people away from the polls and give them even more of an excuse to just wait until the Americans leave to start their civil war.

The lack of cultural understanding among the people running this war is horrifying.