"Shocked! War's Reality Surprises the Media"

The Blogosphere's own Preston & Regan have a good column in today's NRO:

.... The Iraqi people have lived under Saddam's heavy, bloody hand for more than 24 years. When young Elizabeth Smart emerged from her captivity after nine months — nine months in which she never attempted an escape — many in the media and the public wondered if she'd been brainwashed, or had developed "Stockholm Syndrome" — sympathy with her captors. The case of Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army helped inform that line of argument. Yet to date no one has linked such brainwashing to the brutal captivity of Iraq under Saddam. Could it be that we're encountering a nation of brainwashed people, and a Republican Guard full of Patty Hearsts? One suspects that decades of living under portraits comparing Saddam to Nebuchadnezzar, and to Saladin, and the ever-present fear of Saddam's secret police, rape rooms, and torture cells might have cowed Iraq's populace into at least ambivalence as our troops race toward Baghdad. Hopefully time can heal these psychological wounds. For now, most Iraqis simply can't believe Saddam's days in power now number fewer than 30, and they still believe we may lose heart and retreat to leave the Butcher of Baghdad in power. Proving those notions wrong will do much to shore up their support of our war....

(Thanks, Bryan.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 03/26/03 01:59:22 PM
Categorized as War.