..out of the dark

Meanwhile it was announced last week that the oh-so-autonomous Iraqi government has agreed to pay $400 million to compensate Americans held as "human shields" by Saddam during the Persian Gulf War -- 20 years ago.

via Glenn Greenwald's "various matters" today.

Let me put it this way. I know people, Iraqis, who are willing to forgive this kind of thing. They are so tired of war that they are willing to forgive just about any and all wrongs in order to secure peace. I'm not a mind-reader, and I don't know of widespread forums where any discussion is held where it's possible to gauge this. But I suspect that this is and has become a very common way to think. The country is destroyed. It's reduced to rubble. There's nothing.

It has oil, though. And national pride is valuable if it truly can be traded for peace and at least a chance for your kids to live in relative prosperity. Considering that a large amount of the population in Iraq is around 30 - i.e., the ones too young to fight in the Gulf War around 1980 - and the rest is old men.. this is becoming more and more a natural state of progression. There will be no self-rule. But in return - one believes - there will be peace.

*shakes head* The MARCH OF DEMOCRACY indeed.