A journalist in my city of Baqubah has summed up the reasons for all the resistance and violence the Americans continue to encounter: "If you want to give us freedom, a sort of democracy, then you don't kill people, you don't destroy houses, you don't run over cars with your tanks.... This only creates hatred."
On the other hand, what choice do you have if you invade a foreign country with absolutely no plan of restoring order or--most importantly--electricity?
THAT's what really pisses the Iraqis off, you know. Many of them look upon the United States as the most powerful nation on Earth, a nation which made all these grand promises, and they still haven't delivered on one of the most basic requirements of modern life: Electricity!!
That's why the Iraqi people want me back in power. Oh, they may not say so in exactly those words. And they may sometimes whine about how I often made relatives and loved ones "disappear." But deep down inside they realize that when I was in charge, they could flip a light switch and a darkened room would become bright, or turn on the air conditioner and cold, blessed air would flow forth, or click on the TV, and that lovable Homer Simpson would be strangling Bart.
Too bad no one in the Bush Administration thought of that ahead of time.
---------------Drew Sheneman, Newark Star-Ledger
