[...]So far, without a visible Iraqi opposition, al Jazeera and its sisters are projecting the image of an "Iraqi national resistance to the U.S. occupation." They are manufacturing it piece by piece — rushing from one cleric to another, from one Baathist cadre to another. And as most experts would tell you, U.S. official briefings are no match for this. The political war is being lost even as I write.


What to do about it, then?[...]

April 8, 2003: Hundreds of Iraqi exiles have answered the call by the Iraqi National Congress to volunteer for duty in Iraq as translators and negotiators for coalition troops. More are arriving daily and being put to work. The exiles often find themselves revisiting areas they grew up in and reuniting with friends and kin they have not seen for years. Their advice on who's naughty and who's nice is preventing a lot of embarrassing incidents. Captured Saddam loyalists have already caused problems by accusing anti-Saddam locals as being pro-Saddam.[...]