Reply #5: "I'm not one to defend the behavior of the Iraqi Resistence...

[Samaka 3ajiba]

... but it helps to look at things from the POV of the Iraqis living under US occupation.

First, many (perhaps even the majority) of those in Iraq are generally peaceful even when faced with daily degradation by US troops. But now they're stuck, with the prospect of daily checkpoints, spotty electricity, water and food and no real opportunities for a consistent income to feed their families. The US soldiers can't differentiate friend from foe and too frequently end up shooting civilians. Family members are randomely arrested and incarcerated in prisons and they don't even know when they are coming home. Finally, they're living in an environment in which they have no basic essentials let alone creature comforts -- it feels like walking around in a blast furnace mid-afternoon.

I'm not going to excuse the behavior described in the article -- if I were Iraqi, I'd cheer every time a faction of the resistence struck a blow to the occupation and their puppet government. But it also helps to note the environment in which many of the Iraqis are living in an unbearable quagmire, fearing death at every moment, their loyalties constantly questioned by the coalition forces and the Iraqi resistence.

It's not about excusing bad behavior. It's not about justifying why Iraqis shoot at US GI's. It's about looking at a situation that is completely fucked up, and realizing that most of those who live under US occupation don't necessarily want to be, and they are being fucked in the process.