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COMMENTARY

 

 President Bush and his team are going to have hard time:

1-      Explaining to the Iraqis, the Mullah, the Ulemas, Al Koudats, the clerics, the Imams,  the Sheiks, the jurists and lawmakers of Iraq, how contradictory state and federal  democratic laws work in the United States and why so many American laws are so different in so many American states!?

2-      How and why American democracy and the Bush’s administration are capable of  establishing a new democratic and juridical/legal system better than the one they already have! And in case, they don’t have one, what’s wrong with the laws of the Quran, Islam, the word of the Prophet, and the divine inspiration of Allah?!

MISTAKE #5: UNDERESTIMATING THE IRAQIS  AND RADICALS IN THE MIDDLE EAST:

President Bush did not expect such a strong antagonistic and unwelcoming reaction from the Iraqi people. He underestimated the patriotic zeal of the Iraqi people. He honestly, candidly and “naively” believed that, the Shiites will show gratitude and support for getting rid of Saddam Hussein. They did not. On the contrary, they became extremely violent and determined to kill every single American fighting on their lands. On so many occasions, President Bush with utmost candor and honest conviction stated that the Iraqi people will welcome the Americans as liberators. There is no doubt, Iraqis from all walks of life, tribal diversities, various ethnic backgrounds and religious affiliations consider the Americans as "occupiers" and conquerors, not as liberators. To many, President Bush and the American troops in Iraq symbolize evil, destruction and an International Jewish-Christian conspiracy to destroy the Arab world and Islam.

MISTAKE #6: ARABS/MUSLIMS  DETAINEES AND PRISONERS INTERROGATIONS METHODS AND TECHNIQUES:

Americans think and act like Americans. French think and act like French. Also, Arabs and Muslims think and act like Arabs and Muslims. To get the desired intelligence and information from Arab and Muslim prisoners, American interrogators should and must think, act and interrogate like Arabs and Muslims. Unfortunately, a large number of our military interrogators in Iraq are uncultured and poorly educated. They are not familiar with Arab and Muslim way of life, reasoning, acting and reacting, telling the truth and lying and above all they are totally in the dark when it comes to gain the trust, respect and collaboration of their Arab and Muslim detainees.  In addition, those alleged atrocities and violations of the Geneva Convention fueled Arab and Muslim hatred, distrust, fear, vengeance and refusal to cooperate with the military interrogators and fields officers of the CIA. The same thing applied to the methods and techniques used by reasonably educated interrogators at the headquarters of the FBI and CIA in the United States. American interrogators were not properly trained to obtain the needed intelligence and information from terrorists, Arabs and Muslims because they have not studied the social psychology and behavioral sciences of Arab communities and Muslim psyche. You cannot interrogate a Muslim from Basra or Beirut the same way you interrogate a truck driver from Alabama or an intellectual activist from Manhattan. What applies to Americans do not apply to foreign nationals, and more precisely to fanatic and radical Muslims.  Years ago, the French made the same mistakes in Algeria. They used interrogation methods similar to the ones which are currently in use by our guys in Washington and centers of detention abroad. But they quickly learned that those methods were not efficient and productive. And consequently, new interrogation "styles and methods" were implemented following the advice of Algerian "collaborators". The new techniques and methods as suggested and "designed" by Algerian collaborators were extremely successful. Unfortunately, we Americans, WE ARE stubborn and arrogant.

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