Allawi, Zarqawi, and the Iraqi man on the street

Thanassis Cambanis files an illuminating man-on-the-streets story from Baghdad for the Boston Globe. The good parts version:

Sa’ad Saddam, a merchant in the Iraqi capital’s notorious Thieves Market, normally has nothing polite to say about his country’s rulers. So he was surprised yesterday to find himself hopeful about interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s new Iraqi government — not because he cared about the symbolic passing of sovereignty, but because he was thrilled to see Iraqi police officers pistol-whipping suspected carjackers near his clothing stand the day before. ”Allawi is a strong, powerful guy,” Saddam, 35, raved. To him, the raid on two carjacking and kidnapping rings in the downtown Betaween neighborhood meant that Iraq’s new leaders were starting to impose concrete order on the streets. Most Iraqis are withholding judgment on the new government, which officially and unexpectedly took the reigns of power yesterday — two days before the scheduled transfer; they want to see results, first and foremost in the field of security. But so far, many like what they see. Allawi has spewed tough talk, dismissing a televised assassination threat by the Al Qaeda-linked terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a ”cowardly” attempt to intimidate all Iraqis. The 58-year-old prime minister already survived an assassination attempt in the 1970s, when ax-wielding assailants attacked him in his bed. Unlike occupation officials and members of the now-defunct Iraqi Governing Council, Allawi has stepped outside the security bubble to visit the scenes of deadly suicide bombings and tell Iraqis not to surrender to fear…. Around noon yesterday, Al-Arabiya satellite television reported that Iraqi police had arrested Zarqawi in the southern city of Hillah. Within seconds of the report, word spread onto the streets of the Thieves Market, passed by word of mouth and by cellphone text messages. The report, which proved false, generated far more excitement than the transfer of sovereignty. ”We will fire our guns in the air tonight to celebrate,” said Ali Abbas, 19. ”Zarqawi is a dog.” Minutes later, television reported Zarqawi’s capture was a false rumor. ”When they do catch him, they should strangle him to death on live television,” Abbas said, shrugging. Many of the same Iraqis who have professed anger and frustration at the slow pace of reconstruction during nearly 14 months of American-led occupation have now assumed the same optimistic wait-and-see stance they once took toward the United States. Baghdad residents sounded more hopeful about the fight against terrorism and crime than they had in recent months. ”The Americans are very strong on the battlefield, but Iraqis can deal with the terrorists more effectively because they have better intelligence,” said Naseer Hassan, an architect and poet who is translating the work of Emily Dickinson into Arabic. (emphasis added)

One can draw three oh-so-tentative conclusions from this kind of report:

1) As I blogged last week, Iyad Allawi has accomplished the first necessary step to govern — he’s earned himself a measure of legitimacy. 2) The hostility to Zarqawi suggests that Iraq might not be as hospitable a place for Islamic fundamentalism as many have feared — because the sources of either Sunni or Shia fundamentalism emanate from foreigners (Saudi Arabia and Iran). This would make David Petraeus’ task much easier. 3) That bolded paragraph is key — this is window of opportunity. In transfering sovereignty, the Bush administration has successfully created the perception of a fresh start for Iraqis. The question is whether the administration will provide the necessary resources for the Allawi government to succeed in restoring security and, yes, fostering democracy.

UPDATE Joe Katzman has a round-up of Iraqi blogger reactions at Winds of Change.