The first food aid was distributed today in Iraq by the Muslim relief agency Red Crescent. ABC covered the story.
It was in the southern city of Safwan (right next to the Kuwati border) the local people looked pretty desparate to get the aid and the aid workers had a hard time maintaining order while locals pushed and struggled to get the bread, cheese and water.
As the trucks pulled in, the locals started to shout vigorously "With our blood, we sacrifice ourselves to you Saddam Hussein". One mother said to the reporter "You brought us chaos, people are sick and hungry".
The ABC reporter asked "The people of the United States thought you would be grateful to be liberated from Saddam Hussein"...the answer... "No. We are not happy. You have humiliated us more than our enemies.".
One Iraqi that did not want to be photographed said "We do not all love Saddam... but we do not love the United States either".
This is from the same area (the south) that rebelled against Saddam in 1991 when Bush '41 publically encouraged them to do it. When they did rebel, the U.S. forces looked the other way while Saddam crushed the rebellion. So...this is not an area that loves Saddam, and...it's not hard to understand why they might not love the U.S. either.
I'm reminded of a line from the Gandhi movie, he said..."There are few people who would not prefer the bad gov't of their own people to the good gov't of an alien power". This scene in Iraq today seems to be very much like that.
It was in the southern city of Safwan (right next to the Kuwati border) the local people looked pretty desparate to get the aid and the aid workers had a hard time maintaining order while locals pushed and struggled to get the bread, cheese and water.
As the trucks pulled in, the locals started to shout vigorously "With our blood, we sacrifice ourselves to you Saddam Hussein". One mother said to the reporter "You brought us chaos, people are sick and hungry".
The ABC reporter asked "The people of the United States thought you would be grateful to be liberated from Saddam Hussein"...the answer... "No. We are not happy. You have humiliated us more than our enemies.".
One Iraqi that did not want to be photographed said "We do not all love Saddam... but we do not love the United States either".
This is from the same area (the south) that rebelled against Saddam in 1991 when Bush '41 publically encouraged them to do it. When they did rebel, the U.S. forces looked the other way while Saddam crushed the rebellion. So...this is not an area that loves Saddam, and...it's not hard to understand why they might not love the U.S. either.
I'm reminded of a line from the Gandhi movie, he said..."There are few people who would not prefer the bad gov't of their own people to the good gov't of an alien power". This scene in Iraq today seems to be very much like that.