I was thinking about Zeyad and his compatriots in Iraq, and my mind wandered, as it’s prone to do. I heard a quick sound bite of President Bush telling reporters that countries which risked troops to help free Iraq deserved first shot at reconstruction contracts. I also considered America’s place in the world at this point in history.
When any country in the world needs assistance of any kind–financial, military, medical, natural disaster relief, rescue services, technical, or just moral–they turn to the US. And not just because we have the best of all of those things. The entire civilized world, regardless of your definition of civilization, understands that Americans have big hearts. We actually care. Not ‘care’ as in being willing to march in protest or support of the current cause, but care as in wanting others around the world to share in the bounty that comes with freedom. We care that people suffer and we want to help them not suffer. We care that children in other countries die of starvation and we want to feed them. When a disaster strikes somewhere in the world, Americans are quick to donate money and volunteer to provide assistance personally.
When the World Trade Center towers came down, Americans ran to help where they could. Americans donated millions of dollars to help those directly affected. We poured our souls into the cause. We didn’t take to the streets in protest. And it was gratifying to hear support from around the world. To me, it seemed as though people in other countries actually cared about us as much as we care about them. That soon faded. Where were the legions of aid workers from around the world? Where were the millions of dollars in relief funds from other countries to help us in our time of need?
We got half-hearted support to invade Afghanistan. We got little support when we went into Iraq. In fact, France, Russia, and Germany were duplicitous in trying to prevent the invasion. They’ve been no help in the six-plus months since. Now that there are billions of dollars in contracts to be signed, paid for by US taxpayers, they want in. Bush won’t let them ‘help,’ and they’re pissed. The media focus has been on the $18 billion of US-funded contracts, but there are millions of dollars of ‘international’ funds which are available for bid by anyone. This is the money donated by the few countries willing to help bring Iraq out of despotism. France and Russia did not contribute, nor did they offer any debt relief. But they want to share in the wealth.
Zeyad and his friends in Iraq are aware of such things. I wonder if others there are as informed. I was thinking about him during a newscast; Typically, a ‘talking torso’ reporting from the roof of a hotel in Baghdad. We don’t see things except through that prism, so I looked back on my trip to Kuwait last spring as a starting point for trying to perceive things more clearly, and what a normal day for a normal person is like there.
With US and British forces in the vicinity, I would assume most people there understand what has happened in the last year. I can’t be sure, because my son related to me that he met people in rural Afghanistan who were surprised to see American soldiers. In spite of propaganda from many directions, I truly believe people understand we are in Iraq to help. I doubt they hear of attacks against coalition troops and support personnel, except those close to home. Why would it be otherwise? I don’t hear about daily murders in Houston or Los Angeles or Washington. Iraqis go about their daily business with little more than passing thoughts of the world’s politics. They will take help from whoever is willing to provide it. But I think, if they knew the diplomatic environment, and could choose who provided support, the US and Britain would be the overwhelming favorites. I know that Kuwaitis, twelve years after the fact, were very gracious toward me as an American: ‘You saved us from Saddam! You are welcome here!’
The US is not just the only military superpower remaining. We are more than that. We are a superpower in far too many ways to even detail. We are the superpower in the entertainment industry (why else would people who can afford to live anywhere stay in Hollywood?), we are the superpower in culture (the elite of every country bemoan the fact that their people want American records, food, and clothing). We are the superpower in medicine and technological advancement, food production (what other country pays farmers not to grow things?), and art. If people can get here, they come. We have what almost everyone else wants. And those that don’t want it, or don’t want us to have it, want to destroy it.
And that is the simple truth.