Southern DUers: Iraq Occupation Question

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Shouldn't the fact that there is a resistance movement in Iraq against the U.S. occupation resonate with those who feel that the Confederate war effort in the Civil War was justified at least in part on the basis that the North were invaders in their land?

Particularly since in this case, the invaders are from a completely different land and culture.

Regardless whether they feel the various WMD and other justifications for the invasion were right, on a gut level, I would think Southerners, particularly those who are sympathetic to the Confederate cause, would at least understand this aspect of the thing. And I would hope it would make them even more concerned about the likelihood of success of the occupation.

Does the subject not ever come up?

[Wright Patman]

1. Man, did you ever miss it

Forgive me, but the good ol' Southern boys are far more likely to have it genetically imprinted into their DNA that Iraqis (and all Arabs, for that matter) are the equivalent of the 'nigras' they used to enslave. In fact a common epithet for them is the 'N' word preceded by the word "sand."

That's why Operation Iraqi Freedom is such an Orwellian name. Even a cursory analysis of the operation, including the EO which took over Iraq's economy and natural resources, reveals that "freedom is slavery" for the Iraqi people.

[Joe Chi Minh]

2. But, just the same,

I remember reading about two American grunts running along some kind of ditch or open culvert, and one asking the other whether he got the feeling that they were playing some kind of Redcoats in that situation. To which the other replied he'd been thinking the same thing. I believe one of them was an African American.

[Wright Patman]

7. You are right to focus on the Southern white male

and his mindset. At the risk of sounding too much like Neil Young here, this is the predominant mindset that pervades the U.S. military. Look at all the military bases in the South. Even non-Southerners in the military spend a lot of time based here and the culture remakes them to some extent. I think all this talk about the "New South" is a bit of a myth.

The only reason League of the South and other groups celebrating the Lost Cause try to emphasize the states' rights argument as the primary cause of the Civil War (and I agree it was very important to the Calhoun secessionist/nullification argument), racism is the subtext. It is the (GOP) Elephant in the New South living room.

[whistle]

3. I have lived in the south for 35 years but I have never been....

...sympathetic to the Confederate cause nor supported any flying and displaying of racist symbols in public ares such as the Confederate flag in court houses, the capital building or in public parks. To equate the southern U.S. attitudes that were around long before the civil war and that have been maintained and even expanded into to full blown racism and hatred of everything non-white/non-fundamental warped Christianity with the resistance of Iraqi people to a foreign occupier clouds the whole issue.

Fortunately, that part of the south you are referring to is a minority, but the Bush administration and neo-con right wingers have taped into the fears and prejudices to make that group a sizable voting block. The bigotry they represent can't be ignored, but the democratic party should never try to appease that group either. They are on the wrong side of history and should never be allowed to gain legitimacy in U.S. policy.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. I am not trying to say that all or even most Southerners have these views.

But the minority that IS sympathetic to the Confederacy is a sizeable one or else the flags etc. would not ever even be an issue in Southern politics.

What I was trying to get at with my question was whether any Confederate sympathizer types actually saw any kind of resonance between viewing the North/Union as invaders and occupiers and the fact that we are occupying a land now that is actively resisting.

Or, alternatively, irony in NOT reconciling those situations.

Not trying to start another anti-South DU flamewar, that's not what the thread/question was trying to get at.

[leftchick]

4. my guess would be they are not looked at as "resistance"..

more like the terrorists who got us on 9/11...:eyes:

[Rowdyboy]

6. Those southerner's with a "rebel" mindset aren't likely to visit DU

I was born here in Mississippi, and can certainly understand that in different historical eras rational people held views that we find sickening today. That's hindsight.

Those people you ask about are more likely to be solidly behind "their" president. Thinking southerners know that this Iraqi occupation has no chance. It took my ancestors ten years to drive out the occupiers (the carpetbag government fell in 1875 or 1876). Its been 140 years and sadly, for some few, the hatred still remains. We'll be lucky if the Iraqis forgive us that quickly.

[Eye and Monkey]

8. I live in the rural South. Most o'my neighbors say something like -

"We ain't got NO bidnez being ova-thair."

This from a region where most everyone knows Halliburton, a region where people desperately need jobs, and a region where most men like their guns.