However, with the current war in Iraq, I couldn’t help but wonder what might happen if the shoe were on the other foot.  Lately, we have heard our government officials say the resistance in Iraq is more than they had expected or they say the Iraqis, by wearing civilian clothes while fighting our troops, are not “fighting fair”.  We also hear that many in our government don’t understand why the people of Iraq are not welcoming our troops with open arms.

With that in mind, allow me to offer the following short scenario.

It is summer, 2004.  In order to quell the growing unrest in the United States, president George Bush has declared martial law, nationwide, and has suspended the 2004 elections,  naming national security as his reason.  Talking against the Bush administration in public is now forbidden and is punishable by imprisonment for an undetermined length of time.  Besides individual free speech, the nation’s press may now only print news officially approved by Washington.  Unemployment has risen to 37 percent and the general populace is angry and rebellious, but because Bush has a large, well fed, loyal army at his disposal, they are powerless to do anything about it.  Officially and in public, everyone says they love George Bush as president, but unofficially, they all wish he would be removed from power.

Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein the leader of Iraq says he is fearful of the weapons of mass destruction possessed by the United States and he is organizing a coalition of Arab States to disarm the United States and remove George Bush as its leader.

The American Armed forces now number just over one million (those not loyal to Bush having been weeded out of the military and either sent home or imprisoned).  The Arab nation forces number two and a half million. 

Canada has suspended diplomatic relationships with the US and closed the boarder.  Still, they have decided not to allow the Arab forces to use their country to house troops and stage attacks on the United States.  Canada still believes diplomacy has not yet run its course.

Mexico, on the other hand, feels greatly threatened by the United States and welcomes the Arab nation troops and planes with open arms and great hospitality.

Finally, the Arabs attack, swarming across the borders of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.  They are coming with the well-publicized  goal of liberating the American People from the iron hand rule of George Bush.

The Arabs are quickly surprised at the large number of ordinary citizens who take up their own personal arms and fight the invading Arab troops.  They knew the United States had a large concentration of arms in private hands (even George Bush couldn’t get them from the people), but since they were coming to “liberate” the American people, they could not fathom why these people were fighting them.  In fact, they’d expected most Americans to fight with them to overthrow George Bush, not against them.  Furthermore, some American regular army troops are fighting in civilian clothes, which make the progress of the Arab soldiers even more difficult.

Massive demonstrations around the world protest the Arab’s aggression.  Americans shown on foreign television said, yes, they hate George Bush, but by God, no one could invade and occupy their country and even George Bush was preferable to letting that happen.

The Arab march to Washington seemed to bog down at every turn and even though their bombers were able to take out key targets in the nation’s capitol, their army was literally forced to fight millions of armed citizens along the way.  Their supply lines from Mexico were repeatedly cut.  After five months, Saddam Hussein halted the war.  The Arabs had lost several hundred thousand troops; more than a million American civilians had perished in the defense of their homeland and there was still no end to the war in sight.  The great power Hussein had once enjoyed as a world leader was gone forever.

The Arabs retreated in disgrace and prepared for the scorn of the rest of the world.  Meanwhile, nothing much changed in the United States.  George Bush was still in power, the people were still oppressed (except, of course, the many who died in the war) and things went on in Washington pretty much as usual. Of course, as a result of the war, Bush now said he must stay in power for a very long time to insure the strength of the nation.  Presidential elections were reinstated but by law, only George Bush’s name could appear on the ballot.  After the mysterious disappearance of Vice President Dick Cheney, Bush installed his brother, Jeb Bush as the new vice president.

Fiction?  Probably so, but my point is this.  If the situation were to be reversed, we would fight, with any means at our disposal, to protect our homeland.  Even though we despised our dictator leader, we would still fight on the side of his troops to repel the foreign invader.  We wouldn’t worry about the rules of war from a time past, but would fight the invader any way we could, because then, the shoe would be on the other foot.

Yes, like most, I despise Saddam Hussein.  I can find no redeeming qualities about him, what so ever.  He is a thoroughly vile individual.  Still, I understand the resilience of the Iraqi citizens.  In their eyes, their country is being invaded and many of them are going to fight back.  Now, we must ask ourselves, isn't that exactly what we would do in the same situation?

©2003 by Ken Kreps.  This article may not be re-published in electronic or print media without the express written permission of the author.  All Rights reserved.

Ken Kreps lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife.  He has written a number of published articles, essays and short stories, as well as numerous consumer and business pieces. Ken has also written scripts for Imagination Theater, an award winning audio drama series heard on over 150 commercial radio stations across the nation.