One of the many miscalculations made by the Bush administration in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq was that revenues from Iraqi oil production would help foot the bill, including, and most prominently, for post-war reconstruction.
Currently, Iraqi production limping along at about 2-million barrels/day, far below potential capacity; the industry is beset by significant infrastructure problems and sabotage; and parliament is unable to reach an agreement on a legal framework intended to ensure the equitable distribution of the oil wealth to all parts of Iraq.
Nevertheless, the hope remains that oil revenues and its promise of economic prosperity will help put this shattered country back together; and that the Sunni Arabs and the Shiite Arabs and the Kurds will ultimately overcome their tortured history, see past their fundamental theological and political differences, and agree to live together, somehow, in an oil-rich new Iraq.
However, Edward Wong, who has covered the Iraq war for three and a half years for the New York Times, suggests a much grimmer reality.
Wong writes in the Times on June 3 that the Iraqis have a word, "sahel, " which is unique to Iraq and means to "utterly defeat and humiliate someone." Citing a conversation with an Iraqi friend, Razzaq, Wong writes: "Throughout Iraqi history, he said, power has changed hands only through extreme violence, when a leader was vanquished absolutely, and his destruction was put on display for all to see."
Other Arabs say, "You are a country of sahel," Razzaq said. "It has always been that way in Iraq."
Wong writes, no faction, not the Shiite or Sunni or Kurds, "has been able to secure absolute power, and that has only sharpened the hunger for it. Listen to Iraqis engaged in the fight, and you realize they are far from exhausted by the war. Many say this is only the beginning."
Iraqis believe that America's will to remain in Iraq "is ebbing and their time here is limited," Wong writes. "That leaves Iraqis more motivated than ever to cling to their weapons, preparing for what many see as an inevitable plunge into the abyss."
The presence of US troops appears to have done little to quell the sectarian violence in Iraq; and apparently little in Iraqi history suggests that oil will calm these troubled waters.
Excellent post by Gerry Karey regarding Edward Wong's descripiton of the Iraqi mentality. Wong's comments about the different factions is quite true.
What was new to me was the word "sahel" and its definition. Sahel, by itself, gives me an entirely different view of the war.
"sahel" means dragging a body through the streets , it happened in Iraq in 1958 and in Somalia when the murdered American soldiers were dragged i.e They were saheled .
The people of Iraq are never sectarians only their current leaders are ; Iraqis have mixed Sunni - Shia -Arab-Kurd marriages for centuries without any sectarian prejudices . The current violence is a struggle for power between the religious parties of both side when they werre allowed to come out of hiding by the American occupation and then were encouraged , armed and led by such evil regimes as the mullahs in Iran and other backward regimes in the area representing the other side . The Iraqi people are mainly tolerant , modern and religion plays secondary part in their lives .
A lot of people haved written about Iraq quoting one or two Iraqis and they treat that as the gospel truth . I am an Iraqi and I should Know that although the history of Iraq had many violent episodes but also that history was full of tolerance , kindness and humanity ; just ask the armenians who fled Turkey in 1915 about that and they will tell you .