Main Street, Dujail

"I truly believe that Iraqis are nationalists. They want to choose on their own what's best for their country and they don't want somebody else to decide what's in their best interests," said US General Ray Odierno without a hint of irony (Iran accused of Iraq bribes, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/10/08).

General Odierno was the commander, in Iraq, of the US Army's 4th Infantry Division: "an active-duty two-star general, the commander of an armoured division, one of the Army's premier units. He was the youngest division commander in the Army. And he was physically imposing, 6' 5" tall and weighing 250 pounds, with a bulletlike shaved head. Everyone around him knew he was destined for three or four stars, and might be chief of staff of the Army one day." (Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, Thomas E Ricks, 2006, p 295)

According to Ricks, what General Odierno and the 4th ID are best remembered for is the December 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein. Odierno crowed, "'The former regime elements we have been combating have been brought to their knees... Capturing Saddam was a major operational and psychological defeat for the enemy'. He described the insurgency as a 'fractured, sporadic threat, with the leadership destabilized, finances interdicted, and no hope of the Baathist's return to power'. These were just a 'handful of cells' left fighting in his area, the northern and eastern parts of the Sunni Triangle, he said... He even offered a time line: 'I believe within 6 months you're going to see some normalcy. I really believe that'." (ibid, pp 263-264)

"Saddam Hussein was hanged for killing 148 Shi'ite men and boys in Dujail in 1982. But today, some people in this town on the Tigris say they miss life under the Iraqi dictator because they felt more secure. Even some of those from Dujail whose family members were murdered and imprisoned during Saddam's iron-fisted rule seem seduced by the idea of a strong leader after years of chaos, bloodshed and deprivation since the US-led invasion in 2003. 'If someone like Saddam came back, I'd not only support him, I'd invite him to dinner. My uncle was killed in 1982 in the Dujail incident. Still, life then was a million times better than now', said Saad Mukhlif, a Shi'ite. Nostalgia for Saddam and his Sunni-led government in this largely Shi'ite town mirrors a country-wide sense of frustration despite a drop in attacks and killings... '(Prime Minister) Nuri al-Maliki is sitting in (Baghdad's fortified) Green Zone. What's he doing to protect us? What's the point of this government?' said Muhammad Mehdi, a Shi'ite whose cousin was jailed in 1982 and whose brother was killed in a car bomb in Dujail last month. 'Saddam Hussein is the only noble leader we've had', he added, before shouting 'God bless Saddam 1,000 times', within earshot of US troops accompanying reporters visiting the town, 50 km north of Baghdad. Mehdi and Mukhlif's views were echoed elsewhere as Reuters spoke to around 15 passers-by and shopkeepers in Dujail's high street." (War-weary Saddam victims miss his iron rule, Mohammad Abbas, Reuters, 11/10/08)

Bulletheaded, shit-for-brains Americans just don't get it, do they?