JINSA Report #554 Take a Deep Breath Here

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March 8, 2006

JINSA Report #554

Take a Deep Breath Here

Remember the Jenin Massacre? Jeningrad - you know – where, in 2002, the
IDF killed more than 500 defenseless Palestinians, mainly women and
children? How could you forget? All the important newspapers ran
headlines about mass graves and carpet-bombing; Jenin was destroyed. A
reporter on a reputable American paper called Jenin a "bone yard," and a
British reporter wrote, "Rarely, in more than a decade of war reporting
from Bosnia, Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, have I seen such deliberate
destruction, such disrespect for human life."

Oh, no - wait. The subsequent UN investigation (hardly Israel's friend
in this) discovered that, in fact, 56 Palestinians, mainly men between
20 and 45, died in battles that claimed 23 IDF soldiers - 13 of whom
were lured into a booby trap by a little boy.

So, after the bombing of an important Shiite mosque in Iraq two weeks
ago, it was not surprising that violence convulsed the country from the
Kurdish areas of the north to Basra in the south; 1,300 people were
killed (Washington Post, 28 Feb.); and hundreds of mosques were burned
to the ground in what the cognoscenti called the beginning of Iraq's
civil war. Immediately thereupon, a Washington Post-ABC News poll asked
Americans whether they believed civil war was likely in Iraq (80 percent
said yes).

Oh, no – wait, again. In fact, after the mosque bombing, sporadic
violence flared mainly in Baghdad and Basra. Some 300 people were killed
(Knight Ridder, 2 March). Fewer than 25 mosques were attacked; six
suffered significant damage. City government councils in Baghdad and
Basra and key Shiite leaders, including Muqtada Sadr, called for calm.
Dozens of peaceful demonstrations occurred around the country - only
three of which apparently became violent. Iraq's political leaders
dispatched Iraqi police and security forces to the streets. And, most
amazingly, the Iraqis handled the violence and did not split along
sectarian lines or join the troublemakers.

Syndicated columnist Ralph Peters wrote from Baghdad: "I'm trying. I've
been trying all week. The other day, I drove another 30 miles or so on
the streets and alleys of Baghdad. I'm looking for the civil war that
The New York Times declared. And I just can't find it. Maybe actually
being on the ground in Iraq prevents me from seeing it. Perhaps the
view's clearer from Manhattan... Instead of a civil war, something very
different happened because of the bombing of the Golden Mosque in
Samarra. The fanatic attempt to stir up Sunni-vs.-Shia strife, and the
subsequent spate of violent attacks, caused popular support for the U.S.
presence to spike upward."

This is not to minimize the precipice upon which Iraqi society stands,
nor the potential for continued murder and mayhem. The outcome of the
experiment in civil-society-building remains unclear, although it is
clear that most of the violence was of the
bomb-throwing-in-the-marketplace variety, a sure sign of the weakness of
the insurgents, not their strength. It is to suggest that both American
politicians and consumers of 24-hour news channels take a deep breath
before making policy or answering polls respectively.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3350

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