Our Oil Is Sweet But They Let

Juan Cole 03/19/2004

Our Oil is Sweet, but They Let the Terrorists Kill Us

Newsday reports that 9 more Iraqi civilians were killed in attacks throughout Iraq on Thursday, including four dead at the hotel in Basra and a cameraman for al-Arabiyah satellite television who was killed by US troops by accident.

It quotes an Iraqi, ‘ “The Americans eat up our oil as if it were a sweet dessert, but they let the terrorists kill us,” Muhaissen said yesterday as he kicked a singed shoe out of the yard. “No one is safe in Iraq anymore.” ‘

Among the attacks on Thursday were two rocket assaults on two hotels in Baghdad, which appear not to have resulted in casualties. Raghida Dergham of al-Hayat reports that one of the hotels, Sudair, was known as a place that businessmen and Israeli spies hung out. (Hint to Mossad: If journalists and terrorists know where your spies are hanging out, they aren’t very good spies).

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page