A reporter for the Guardian interviewed former British provincial governor coordinator in Iraq Emma Sky about her new book, The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq. Behold this quote of hers:
And in my first week, insurgents came to the house where I was living and blew the house up with me in it. I survived, thank God, but I had nowhere to live. I went to see a US colonel to ask for accommodation and he said: “We’re going to hunt those people down!” And I was: “No, no, no, they were attacking me because I’m a symbol of an illegal occupation.” The uncharitable part of me wants to say, "Ah yes, the Brits are old pros at running a colony." But (not knowing anything else about Ms. Sky) at least as she retells it, her sentiment speaks to her professionalism, to her having taken her role seriously, to a level of socially historical maturity on the part of her government's administration. It reflects rather embarrassingly upon us Yanks. Which we knew, but the dynamic here brings it home once more.The thought that there was a real chance Iraq could have turned out much better leaves me angry at the Bush/Cheney cabal all over again, trepidatious that success would've led to people concluding that the death and destruction of our invasion and occupation was "worth it," and correspondingly afraid that moderates and liberals could be tempted by that possibility into supporting more adventures in military/economic empire.
Back to Ms. Sky's statement: The police in places across the USA like Baltimore would do well to learn something from her discernment.