Posted on 04/04/2003 6:41:28 AM PST by SkyPilot
Arabs Laud Iraqis' Resistance
By DONNA BRYSON, Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt - Among many Arabs, it has become an icon of the war, an image first broadcast on Iraqi television, then repeated in newspapers across the region: Iraqi farmers in flowing, checkered headdresses, and the U.S. attack helicopter they claimed to have shot down.
In the Arab world, military victories have been so scarce in recent decades that Arabs celebrate the mere fact that Iraq (news - web sites) hasn't lost yet and that its people haven't surrendered in the face of America's technological superiority.
Retired Gen. Hossam Sweilim, a former Egyptian army commander, said he understands why Arabs from other countries are eager to believe Iraq's claims that it is humiliating the American and British invaders.
"Our history has a lot of victories — against the Crusaders, against the Mongols," he said. "But we can't manage a victory against Israel in these times because of the American support for Israel. That's why Arabs are angry."
Sweilim, a soldier for 35 years, said victory for the powerful U.S. military over Iraq is virtually certain. But those less schooled in military matters still hold out hope.
Americans may defeat the Iraqi army, but "I doubt if they can claim to defeat 27 million Iraqis," said Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian political scientist. "The Americans will have to endure a similar defeat to the one they endured in Vietnam."
Mokhtar Ali, a teacher escorting his students from Minya, 120 miles south, to tour a Cairo museum dedicated to what Egyptians like to think of as the Arabs' last military triumph, said Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) already has proven himself "so strong against the United States."
The war museum's centerpiece, a giant mural in the round, depicts the Oct. 6, 1973, assault on positions Israel had captured in the 1967 war, with 400 Egyptian tanks crossing the Suez Canal and Syrian forces pouring into the Golan Heights.
Museum visitors pose next to tanks, fighter jets and life-size cardboard cutouts of Egyptian heroes, and listen to the narrator of a sound and light show proclaim the 1973 battle the "greatest victory in history."
In truth, the ground Arabs gained on the first day was lost over subsequent weeks, and Israel held the military advantage by the end of the war.
The 1973 war, Ali said, was about regaining land and pride. Similarly, in the Iraq war, Arabs faced with an invasion from all directions "have to defend their country," Ali said.
In 1967, Israeli troops took just six days to defeat the Arabs. The 1948 war set off by the founding of Israel is still remembered among Arabs as "the catastrophe." In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, including its capital, and did not fully withdraw until 2000.
Even the 1991 liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi invaders was seen as an Arab defeat, because outsiders had to be brought in to resolve an Arab crisis. Some still ridicule Kuwaitis for greeting American troops with sweets and flowers.
This time, Ashraf el-Bayoumi, an Egyptian rights activist and anti-war campaigner, has seen Egyptians' surprise and elation as they follow Arab media reports focusing on Iraqi resistance.
"If they resist for another two weeks, that's victory, because of the repercussions and dynamics it is creating in the Arab world," el-Bayoumi said. "Perhaps we are moving into an era where the people are the heroes. The Iraqi men, women and children who are resisting — we don't know their names, but they are the heroes."
I think that could read better:
"But we can't manage a victory against Israel in these times because of the American support God's love for Israel. That's why Arabs are angry."
That's better...
It's all that sand and heat I guess.
"I know we are getting our behinds kicked on International TV...but you sure look cute in that outfit."
These guys live under the same illusions as the FRENCH. That somehow they will be great again, like their distorted histories tell them they once were. I've been to Egypt. That was a long long time ago!!
No. You can't manage a victory against Israel because Israeli soldiers are better trained, better led and better motivated than your dictators would ever allow an Arab army to be. As such, even Latin American armies are an order of magnitude better than anything fielded by an Arab country.
He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward [1] all his brothers."
Not PC but worth repeating.
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