The terrorist slaughter in Iraq continues. But it is ordinary Iraqis who are now bearing the brunt of the bombing outrages. The slaughter this week of young men queuing for interviews to be policemen or soldiers demonstrates more clearly than ever that the main target is no longer the coalition forces but Iraqis themselves. Those responsible are not out to kill occupiers but to destabilize Iraq itself. The suicide bombings bear the finger prints of Al-Qaeda or one of its related organizations — though how anyone could imagine that they are going to go to Paradise for killing ordinary, struggling, young Muslim Iraqis, who were simply trying to find themselves a job is beyond understanding. Hell is the more obvious destination.
In any event, Saddam’s Baathist thugs were too greedy for the good things in life to play more than a passing role in these particular barbarities. Even in Saddam’s Tikriti heartland, the realization must have dawned that the old privileged days have gone. The future for former Saddam loyalists rests with accepting a less advantageous, but nevertheless potentially prosperous role within a very different Iraqi state.
Iraq’s success will rest upon the coming together of the different elements that make up this country. The men murdered as they lined up for their interviews this week reportedly represented a mix of community backgrounds. All of them wished to find work in an economy which is still a long way from recovery and where regularly and well-paid jobs are scarce. But, as evidenced by interviews with bereaved family members and survivors, there was another important motive to seek these key jobs. Iraqis are keen to take back control of their country and many are acutely aware of the opportunity they now have to build a new and fairer society. There is once again a pride in being an Iraqi.
It is this growing feeling of restored honor and the rising confidence of Iraqis which is now the target of the terrorists. The letter from insurgents to the Al-Qaeda leadership, apparently intercepted by the Americans, may well be one more bit of manufactured evidence in the propaganda war. But even if it was not written by opponents of the new Iraq, it very easily could have been, because it does reflect the reality that slowly but inexorably, the balance is moving against the terrorists and the bloody anarchy that they would create.
Iraqis have long learned to live with fear. Under Saddam it was the Baathist secret police. In the invasion and its immediate aftermath, it was coalition bombs and missiles and common criminals. Now though life is still far from safe, Iraqis are increasingly prepared to stand up and be counted among the rebuilders of their country. It is that that the suicide bombers so hate and so fear.
