November 17, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 21, 1424

BEIRUT: It is now likely that a United Nations force will join Spanish and Polish troops some of the responsibility for policing Iraq from the work-horses of the “coalition of the willing” — Britain and the United States troops. British and American troops need some relief from the day to day grind. In the midst of all of this, the choice made by many Arab countries to not participate in the US-led invasion still frustrates, particularly in light of the quick end to the conflict.

The political decision taken by Arab leaders to deny the US their public support for the war has so far left Iraq with no Arab help in the post-war period. In effect, the Arab world has sidelined itself with respect to playing a role in a future Iraq, which is being reshaped by the Anglo-American coalition. The gradual opening up of Iraq to a UN role, triggered by an apparent change of policy in Washington, could lead to Arab nations finally getting involved.

On the face of it, wouldn’t it have been better from the beginning to have Arabic-speaking soldiers in Iraq, who could relate to the local culture in a way Westerners could only dream of. How much easier would it have been for the Coalition Provisional Authority to win hearts and minds if it had had more Arabs delivering its message! Having Muslim troops stationed in a Muslim country made sense didn’t it? A Saudi officer or a Jordanian soldier would have been much easier to trust than one with the stars and stripes on his uniform.

Wrong evidence on the ground in Iraq suggests that the population does not actually regard the absence of Arab involvement as a bad thing at all. The truth is that most Iraqis would prefer to have a US-dominated force in their country, rather an Arab one. The grim reality, one particularly hard to hear for those Arabs who felt they were supporting their Iraqi brethren when demonstrating against war, is that most Iraqis don’t want to have anything to do with them.

On the walls of Mosul University, one of Iraq’s oldest, warning signs are clearly displayed: “No Jordanians, No Palestinians”. Iraqis are clearly upset that other Arabs were able to study in Iraq, effectively on former president Saddam Hussein’s payroll. Iraqis have had enough of seeing their own lives compromised for the benefit of Arabs from neighbouring countries. Saddam played the Palestinian card for all it was worth. Iraqis widely believe that the support both vocal and financial, he gave to families of Palestinian suicide bombers. was the reason behind the wrath of the Zionists in Israel and America.

Whether that is true or not is beside the point — Iraqis saw other Arabs benefit from the Bath regime, while they were left to suffer. In contrast the US spilled the blood of its soldiers to liberate them from Saddam’s tyranny. No matter how bad things are in Iraq, friends, colleagues and relatives assure that with the pressure of living under the old regime gone, life is 100 per cent better.

Stories are doing the rounds telling of how even Kuwaitis profited from Saddam after 1991. Iraqis are incensed that people from a country supposed to be their enemy were treated better by their leader than they were. There is a lot of animosity toward these countries that managed to gain from the former regime’s thirst for international recognition and popularity.

Pan-Arab nationalists find that their dreams have died in the dusty streets of Baghdad and in the narrow lanes of Fallujah.