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<DIV>Judy:</DIV>
<DIV>Why did you put "fact" in quotes?</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>Chris,<BR>Thanks for all of your insights and great discussions!!
Good food for<BR>thought. I, too, agree that this soldier's note is a
very small piece of<BR>the whole puzzle.......BUT......I, personally, still
conclude (not based<BR>solely on his email but on many other learned factors)
that Iraq is a more<BR>"open" society than it was. Do I think it's a
great, safe place to live?<BR>Definitely not but at least their society, as a
whole, is headed in a better<BR>direction. As HO says, the Iraqi's now
have an opportunity to take the<BR>future into their own hands. It is a
"fact" that they did not have that<BR>opportunity a few years
ago.<BR>Judy<BR><BR>I don't have any great answers for the questions you have
at the end of your<BR>message...that's what I'm learning from all of
you.<BR>Thanks again for your intriguing words.<BR><BR>----- Original Message
-----<BR>From: "Chris Corrigan" <chris.corrigan@gmail.com><BR>To:
<OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU><BR>Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 1:36
AM<BR>Subject: Re: Word from a US soldier<BR><BR><BR>> Finding myself
witnessing this exchange, and using it to practice<BR>> asking some
questions:..<BR>><BR>><BR>>> I agree with you that force was used
to open the space which is obviously<BR>>> not an OST principle (but I
don't think that means that the space can't<BR>>> be<BR>>>
're-opened'). I disagree that it started with lies but that's
a<BR>>> political<BR>>> debate and not one of open space, so I
won't go there. As for 'US style<BR>>> Democracy' being the only
choice, who's making the decisions as to how<BR>>> Iraq<BR>>> will
operate in the future?...the Iraqi's. I think their space is
open<BR>>> to<BR>>> let the majority of the Iraqi people
decide...that's why the voting<BR>>> turnout<BR>>> was so
good. I believe the U.S. will eventually "let go" of the
outcome<BR>>> so<BR>>> this doesn't just 'close the space' in my
eyes. Again, this difference<BR>>> of<BR>>> opinion can be
another political debate and I don't intend to do that in<BR>>> this
forum...but will gladly have a constructive debate one-on-one, if<BR>>>
you'd<BR>>> like.<BR>>><BR>><BR>> The question for me always
in working with a community is not "is the<BR>> space open or not?"
Space is always open, even a little. The bigger<BR>> question is "how
can we open more space here?" If you have a<BR>> situation where
there is violent conflict, you need more space. Iraq<BR>> is not a
peaceful place at the moment. That tells me that space wants<BR>> to
be cleaved open even further. If it is your feeling that the<BR>>
United States should not leave Iraq for a while, then we might ask<BR>>
"what is the most space we can open here together?" If you think
that<BR>> Iraq should be able to do fine on its own, then, as an American
you<BR>> might ask "where can we let go some more?" But if, in this
situation,<BR>> I really wanted to open space, I might ask "what if we had
peace now<BR>> and what if together we created that? What would we
have to do to<BR>> stop the violence and sustain a peaceful civil society
in Iraq? What<BR>> might our roles be here on the ground to bring
peace to life?"<BR>> Something like that. For sure I would encourage
talking rather than<BR>> fighting. I believe that most people would
choose even banal<BR>> constitutional conferences to killing one
another. So if we are still<BR>> killing one another, what is the
space that we can open to be bigger<BR>> than the killing
impulse?<BR>><BR>>> Thanks for your kind words about this
soldier. I only wanted to share<BR>>> the<BR>>> story to
those interested in seeing it from an angle that isn't always<BR>>>
easy<BR>>> to get. An even more interesting thing is that this
soldier admits that<BR>>> he<BR>>> had doubts about the war before
arriving in Iraq. Here's a blurb from<BR>>> another message from
him:<BR>>> "When I was first coming over here I had
my own inner personal doubts<BR>>> about the war, but after being over
here and seeing, hearing,<BR>>> experiencing<BR>>> what I
have, it's changed. They never tell you on the media
about<BR>>> the<BR>>> nearly 400,000 up-to-date immunizations that
children now have, or a<BR>>> continually improving
and<BR>>> much needed sewage system, or the fact that
school books don't<BR>>> portray<BR>>> Saddam as a God anymore and
that girls are now allowed in schools. They<BR>>>
don't tell you that the US Army is paying for any damages to
civil<BR>>> areas<BR>>> we cause AND the ones the insurgents
cause. They only show US soldiers<BR>>> geting<BR>>>
killed and beating up prisoners."<BR>> > Sounds more open
to me than it was when Saddam was in power....it's no<BR>>> longer a
country that has "no choices"...<BR>>> Judy<BR>><BR>> He's one
voice. That's his story. It's great but it's hardly enough<BR>>
to give us a picture of life in Iraq. I find that in North
America,<BR>> we are often guilty of judging an entire complex situation
with a<BR>> sound bite. This type of debate is very common, and
supported by our<BR>> culture of punditry, where the goal is to talk and
listen to debate<BR>> and win a point rather than to incur deeper
understanding of one<BR>> another's positions and interests. And so
pundits invoke sound bites<BR>> like this and draw wild conclusions about a
situation based on a small<BR>> fact.<BR>><BR>> Whether that sound
bite comes through TV or through a forwarded email<BR>> of a soldier, it's
just a small small small piece of story. I can't<BR>> judge the
health of civil society in Iraq based on what he said. This<BR>>
report tells me that there are 400,000 immunized children, new sewers,<BR>>
new text books AND much damage to civil areas and death and beaten up<BR>>
prisoners. That sounds complex, messy, full of guesses, rounding<BR>>
errors and assmuptions. I can't possibly read that and draw<BR>>
conclusions about how open Iraqi society is now compared to three<BR>>
years ago. And, I assume, as this soldier showed up in Iraq only<BR>>
after the war started, I'd be surprised if he could make an accurate<BR>>
comparison either. He can share his story though, and that's
fine,<BR>> for what it's worth.<BR>><BR>> I think it's not easy to
say whether THIS Iraq has more or less<BR>> choices than THAT Iraq.
Perhaps you have gained the right to vote,<BR>> but you have lost a
constant power supply. Perhaps you have immunized<BR>> kids but no
husband any more. Maybe you no longer live in fear of the<BR>> secret
police, but you are now afraid of being accidentally shot or<BR>> bombed to
death. I don't know. I don't believe one man, even if he<BR>>
is in the middle of this, can really know how Iraqis feel. I
would<BR>> bet that it's not as simple as "it's more open."<BR>><BR>>
Given this report and this curious email exchange on the OSLIST how<BR>>
can we practice holding open judgement and suspending conslusions?<BR>> As
Open Space facilitators what is our responsibility with respect to<BR>>
witnessing this situation?<BR>><BR>> It's a complex world and these are
complex questions.<BR>><BR>> Chris<BR>><BR>>
-------------------------<BR>> CHRIS CORRIGAN<BR>> Consultation -
Facilitation<BR>> Open Space Technology<BR>><BR>> Weblog:
http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot<BR>> Site:
http://www.chriscorrigan.com<BR>><BR>> *<BR>> *<BR>>
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