How and For Whom Is This "Good News?"

USer troops in Bagdhad are reported to be "enjoying" Bagdhad's night-life, including music, booze and whores. This news is taken to be a harbinger of positive 'change' in Iraq, where bloody internecine strife--spawned, spurred, and stimulated by the invasion of these very celebrants or their countryfolk--has killed an estimated 2 MILLION (mostly innocent) citizens over the past 6 years.

Via the San Jose Mercury News:

BAGHDAD — The American soldier stepped out of the Baghdad nightclub. In one hand, he clutched his weapon. In the other, a green can of Tuborg beer. He took a sip and walked over to two comrades, dressed as he was in camouflage and combat gear.

Inside the club Thursday night, U.S. soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division ogled young Iraqi women who appeared to be prostitutes gyrating to Arabic pop music. A singer crooned soulfully through scratchy speakers to the raucous, pulsating beat — an action that Islamic extremists have deemed punishable by beheading.

Twenty minutes later, several drunk men coaxed an American soldier to dance. He awkwardly shuffled his feet, wearing night-vision equipment and a radio, joining the women and boisterous young men in an Arabic chain dance around tables covered with empty beer bottles.

The story continues to describe the growing number of businesses which are growing up in Bagdhad to 'service' the soldiers, and extolling the apparent remission of attacks against USers or other 'colaition' troops who venture out into the "Red Zone." It is as if, when there are whores and b-girls in bars, all's right with the world.

All of which got me wondering if this 'sign' isn't being somewhat misinterpreted by USer observers.

Yes, it seems to suggest that the presence of USer/coalition troops has become 'normalized' in Iraq. But how is it considered "progress" that women in a notoriously censorious, brutally 'conservative' culture are willing to sell their bodies to the invaders? Would it be TOO much of a 'bummer' to suggest that the women and girls drawn to prostitution may well be--in all likelihood are--widows or orphan of Iraqis killed by the very Murkins to whom they're selling their sex? And that this probably does NOT portend "progress," but more than likely eventual fatal retribution?

'Course, if Sgt Sixpack can notch him Eye-Racki Poontang, everything's right with the world, right?