This NPR report by John Hendren makes clear how little we understand Iraq. He mentions how Islamic fundamentalists have been taking out vegetable sellers for displaying “pornographically” arranged vegetables.
Recently on NPR an Iraq vet spoke of the Iraqi view of pride and shame. If we build a school in Iraq we earn pride, but the Iraqis earn shame because they didn’t do it themselves. Similarly, the U.S. earned pride because it toppled Saddam Hussein, and the Iraqis earned shame because they didn’t do it themselves. Now the Iraqis have to regain their pride by shaming those they perceive as occupiers. If we had understood this, we might have saved many American and Iraqi lives.
