THE PATH TO WAR
A different view on Iraqi domestic opinion
BY IAN DONNIS
Although George W. Bush suggested in his State of the Union
address that Iraqis should welcome a US-led war against Saddam Hussein, a
member of a recent delegation to Baghdad believes that even those Iraqis who
hold little favor for their leader may offer stiff resistance to an attack.
Maxim Fetissenko of Providence, one of 35 participants in an "academic
airlift" that visited Iraq between January 11-17, says it's impossible to
predict with complete certainty how typical Iraqis will react to war. But there
are several reasons -- including the likely lack of UN sanction, widespread
global opposition to the war, and skepticism about Washington's true motives -
to discount the Bush administration's inferences that Iraqi support for Saddam
will quickly crumble.
"With the absence of any material evidence that Iraq possesses weapons of mass
destruction, Iraqis would only see a war against their country as an aggression
and they would defend their country," says Fetissenko. And while many people in
the Middle East wouldn't miss Saddam if he was gone, he says, the possible
death of tens of thousands of Iraqis is seen as too high a cost to justify the
change. "The casualties would be enormous," he says. "There will be no dancing
in the street. There will no welcome for the liberators."
Fetissenko, 30, who is working toward a Ph.D. in international conflict
resolution at Florida State University, traveled to Iraq as part of a
delegation organized by Conscience International, an Atlanta-based humanitarian
group. Much of the US media attention about the trip has come from conservative
pundits belittling Bianca Jagger and other participants for aiding Iraqi
propaganda and not acknowledging the threat posed by Saddam.
But like other critics of a US-led attack, Fetissenko describes war as the
worst possible solution. He believes that conditioning the lifting of US
sanctions on Iraqi cooperation with the UN weapons inspectors would be the
single greatest step toward easing the plight of the Iraqi people, and that the
inspectors could make far-reaching changes. "The regime of Saddam Hussein
certainly bears responsibility for the [difficulties faced by ordinary Iraqis
for] last 11 years," Fetissenko says. "However, sanctions do play a very large
part in that process and lifting economic sanctions would go a long way."
Although Saddam is often depicted in the US press as having virtually complete
control over Iraqi citizens, Iraqi intellectuals told delegation members that
the country is more open to political reform than at any time in the recent
past, even if it would represent a very lengthy process. A transcript of these
discussions is due to be published in a few weeks at www.logosjournal.com, a
magazine of politics and culture.
Fetissenko, a Russian native who came to Rhode Island after getting a one-year
visiting appointment at Rhode Island College in 1999, paid his own travel
expenses (about $1500) to be a part of the delegation to Iraq. He contacted the
Phoenix in hopes of spreading impressions from his trip (he can be
reached at fetissenko@usa.net), and he plans to continue to speak out. "I think
that if Americans realize what the true cost will be," he says, "and what the
perception of the war is with the Iraqi people, they would not be quite as
willing to consent to this war."
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.
Issue Date: January 31 - February 6, 2003
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